Hollie Arnold throws World record distance to take gold
Before Hollie Arnold took her spot in the javelin final, she knew it would take a world record to take Commonwealth Games gold. The Team Wales para-athlete accepted the challenge and today she stood top of the podium.
The pressure mounted across the stadium, with one throw to go, Arnold was in second place. The Welsh F46 javelin thrower had watched New Zealander Holly Robinson take top spot with her own world best, recording 43.32m from her first throw.
But Arnold – who had started with an effort of 37.71m – always knew she could pull something special out of the bag on the Gold Coast.
She added two metres on to her fifth throw as the scoreboard showed 44.43m, enough to smash her previous personal best by more than a metre.
“I knew it was there, it just didn’t click on the first few throws but on that last throw, I just gave it everything. I knew I was capable of doing that throw and I just executed it. Everything went well on that last throw.
“Holly and I are both great competitors and we both bring out the best in each other which is amazing for our sport. It was a battle out there. I knew that I could beat her and throw something like that.”
Arnold’s field exploits followed on from the track achievements earlier in the day. Richard Chiassaro set a Games record that took him to the T54 1500m final. He clocked 3:05.76, and was joined by English team mates Nathan Maguire and Dillon Labrooy as well as Northern Ireland’s Jack Agnew.
Wales’ Rhys Jones and Amar Aichoun from England missed out on the podium in the T38 100m finals.
Meanwhile in the pool, Scottish teenager Toni Shaw featured in the SB9 100m breaststroke final and finished seventh on her Commonwealth debut.
Follow the action of our Home nation stars on the Gold Coast 2018 website. The Games take place from 4-15 April 2018.
Photo credit: ParalympicsGB
