PARALYMPICS LONDON 2012: Great Britain schedule – Thursday September 6th

Posted: Thursday 6th September 2012 | 9:07

CYCLIST Sarah Storey bids to join Britain’s Paralympic elite, going for her fourth gold of the Games and the 11th of her career in the road race at Brands Hatch.

AMBITION: Great Britain’s Sarah Storey is looking for her fourth gold at the Games in the cycling road race at Brands Hatch

Wheelchair racer David Weir takes aim for a third gold of London 2012, over 800m, and teenage sprinter Jonnie Peacock seeks to dethrone South Africa’s defending champion Oscar Pistorius in a highly anticipated T44 100m final on a busy night at the track.

Several of the team events reach semi-final stages and Britain’s swimmers will be eyeing another medal haul at the Aquatics Centre.

Medal prospects

Advertisement

Athletics: Morning finals feature Kyron Duke in the men’s F40 shot and Bev Jones in the F37 discus, along with heats for many of the events that have finals later in the day.

The evening is set for a star-studded finale as Weir looks to add the T54 800m title to the gold medals he has already won over 5000m and 1500m, then Peacock takes on the best in the world over 100m.

Nineteen year old Peacock equalled the Paralympic record with a run of 11.08 seconds in Wednesday’s qualifying heat – a 10th of a second faster than Pistorius – with world champion Jerome Singleton trailing.

Hannah Cockcroft goes in one of her record events, the T34 200m, alongside Mel Nicholls, while Beijing silver medallist Libby Clegg races for gold in the T12 200m. Stef Reid has hopes in the final of the T44 200m, alongside teenager Sophie Kamlish.

World champion Dan Greaves seeks to regain his F44 discus title. Paul Blake, silver medallist over 400m, aims to go one better in the final of the T36 800m, and Ben Rushgrove chases gold alongside Graeme Ballard in the final of the T36 200m.

Advertisement

Gemma Prescott competes in the final of the women’s F32/33 Shot while Ola Abidogun goes in the men’s T46 100m and Olivia Breen has the women’s T38 200m.

Cycling (Road): A day after winning her time trial title at Brands Hatch, Storey aims to win her fourth gold of the Games in the women’s C4-5 road race. Victory would bring her an 11th career gold, which would equal the tally of Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson and swimmer David Roberts.

Mark Colbourne could make it four medals from as many events when he rides in the C1-3 road race, alongside track silver medallist Shaun McKeown. Jon-Allan Butterworth seeks to add to his trio of track silver medals in the C4-5 event.

Sailing: Britain will win their first ever Paralympic sailing medals on the final day of the London 2012 regatta. Helena Lucas is sure to win at least a silver in the 2.4mR class while Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell are guaranteed at least a bronze in the SKUD.

The Sonar crew of John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas could still make it a medal hat-trick as they lie in bronze-medal position overnight.

Advertisement

Shooting: Karen Butler takes aim in the women’s R8 50m air rifle 3 Positions SH1 contest at the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich.

Swimming: Jon Fox competes in the S7 400m freestyle alongside Josef Craig. Sam Hynd goes in the S8 100m freestyle along with Sean Fraser and Thomas Young, Rob Welbourn and Graham Edmunds go in the S10 100m freestyle, and James Crisp is in the SM9 200m medley. Anthony Stephens and Andrew Mullen both compete in the S5 50m backstroke, while Dan Pepper and Aaron Moores both take to the water in the men’s SB14 100m breaststroke.

Heather Fredriksen and Emma Hollis are on the hunt in the S8 100m freestyle, while Louise Watkin, Claire Cashmore and Steph Millward have hopes in the SM9 200m medley. Susie Rodgers is in the S7 400m free, Gemma Almond competes in the women’s S10 100m freestyle while Natalie Massey competes in the women’s SB14 100m breaststroke.

All of the swimmers will take part in morning heats, aiming to qualify for the evening finals.

Wheelchair Fencing: Tom Hall-Butcher competes in the men’s Class A Sabre at ExCel.

Advertisement

Other British teams and athletes in action

Athletics: Having struggled to impose herself on these Games so far, Shelly Woods goes in the first round of the T54 1500m, the event in which she won a silver medal in Beijing four years ago. Teenager Jade Jones joins her in the heats.

Boccia: Scotland’s McGuire brothers, Stephen and Peter, both begin the individual BC4 tournament in the round of 16, first thing on Thursday, with quarter-finals later.

Veteran Nigel Murray got a bye through the first round in the BC2 tournament and meets Takayuki Hirose of Japan in the morning and could have another match later.

Scott McCowan plays world no. 1 Ho-Won Jeong of Korea in the BC3 round of 16 while Jacob Thomas meets world no. 3 Grigorios Polychronidis of Greece.

Advertisement

In the BC1 event, world no. 2 David Smith plays China’s Qi Zhang on Thursday afternoon.

Football 5-a-side: Having failed to reach the semi-finals, Great Britain’s men play China at 11:15 in the first classification match, with the winning gaining a chance to play for the overall fifth ranking.

Table Tennis: Team quarter-finals and semi-finals take place at ExCel. Men’s class 6-8, featuring British medal hopes Ross Wilson, Aaron McKibben and Will Bayley, begins at 09:00, followed by semi-finals from 19:00. Women’s class 1-3, which includes GB’s Sara Head and Jane Campbell, begins with quarter-finals at 11:00, before evening semi-finals.

Sitting Volleyball: GB’s women play Japan at 09:00 bidding to avoid the tournament wooden spoon, in a game to decide seventh and eighth place overall, while the men play Brazil at 19:00 in the first of their classifcation matches.

Wheelchair Basketball: Great Britain’s men face a huge challenge as they take on Canada in the semi-finals at the North Greenwich Arena, having lost 70-54 to them in the group stages.

Advertisement

The GB women play China at 10:45 in the first classification match, with the winner to play off for fifth place overall.

Wheelchair Rugby: Despite an opening defeat to the USA on Wednesday, Great Britain will have high hopes of defeating France – currently ranked eighth in the world – at the Basketball Arena.

Wheelchair Tennis: British duo Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley take on Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Kloot in the women’s Doubles semi-final, with Shuker out for revenge after suffering singles defeat to Griffioen on Tuesday.

For more news and pictures from London 2012 go to the ParalympicsGB website: www.paralympics.org.uk/gb

©  2012

Advertisement