Marcel Hug clinched his third consecutive 10,000m T54 title at the International Paralympic Committee (IPL) Athletics World Championships on Saturday which saw four world records falling in the field.
The Swiss “silver bullet” cruised home in the last 100m to take gold in 23min 04.75sec, well outside his own world record, but ahead of Sho Watanabe of Japan, and Jean-Paul Compaore of Canada.
Hannah Cockroft secured Great Britain’s first gold of the championships with a win in the women’s 200m T34.
In the men’s 1,500m T52 gold went to 19-year-old Raymond Martin with a personal best of 3:51.28 minutes. The American is set to compete in no fewer than five events as he looks to add to the four golds he won at London 2012.
In the men’s 200m T13 Ireland’s double Paralympic champion Jason Smyth (21.57) made clear his intentions as he clocked the fastest time of the three semi-finals.
The Irishman won the world title in 2006 but missed the Championships in New Zealand two years ago with injury.
China’s Lisha Huang and America’s Angela Ballard won 200m T53 gold and silver respectively at the Paralympic Games last year and they continued their run of form in Lyon, with straightforward wins in their semi-finals to secure a place in Sunday’s final.
'Silver Bullet' Hug wins third IPC title
