Newyddion

05/09/2024 00:00, I Mewn Blog /

Funmi Oduwaiye and Olivia Breen both missed out on Paralympic medals in their respective finals at a rainy and cold Stade De France on Thursday morning.

Oduwaiye finished fifth in the F64 shot put while Breen was agonisingly close to the podium finishing fourth on countback in the T38 long jump.

Competing at her first Paralympic Games, Oduwaiye made a solid start to her final, registering a distance of 11.06m in the first round.

Having finished eighth in the discus at the weekend, Oduwaiye was well in contention in the shot as she posted a second round distance of 11.27m in the second round keeping her in sight of the medal places in fourth place.

However, the 21-year-old, was unable to improve on her distance in the remaining rounds and as strove for a big final throw she finished her competition with a foul in the sixth round.

The DSW Para Athletics product eventually finished fifth behind gold medallist Juan Yao, of China, who won with a season’s best 12.53. America’s Arelle Middleton claimed silver with a PB of 12.19m and China’s Yue Yang earned bronze in a season’s best 11.77m.

The Cardiff athlete and her coach Josh Clark can be hugely proud of her efforts in Paris given her relative inexperience in the sport, let alone the international stage.

Oduwaiye has made a remarkable transition to athletics since her hugely promising basketball career was cruelly cut short after a series of knee surgeries left her paralysed in her right leg from the knee down,

On her World Championship debut in Paris just last year, Oduwaiye missed out on a F64 shot put medal by just 20cms and finished sixth in the F64 discus.

Now she also has the experience of competing at a Paralympic Games behind her, which will surely stand her in good stead for the future.

Earlier in the morning, there was further disappointment for GB women’s captain Breen, having narrowly missed out on a place in the T38 100m final at the weekend.

Despite the cool conditions and pouring rain, Breen made good start to the long jump competition leaping out to 4.99m.

The 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist briefly held the lead in the first round until reigning world and Paralympic Champion Luca Ekler, of Hungary, put in a season’s best opener of 5.52m.

World record holder Ekler extended her lead in the second round with a jump of 5.56m which effectively sealed the gold medal.

With her trademark smile never far from her face despite the conditions in the Stade de France, Breen continued to perform consistently in the second and third rounds but was unable to improve her first-round distance, but maintained second place overall.

Improving conditions in the fourth round saw Colombia’s Karen Tatiana Palomeque Moreno produce a new area record to exactly equal Breen’s best of 4.99m, but the south American edged ahead of Breen into the silver medal position due to her second best distance of 4.89m being longer than Breen’s 4.79m.

The Welsh athlete was still in the bronze medal position until the sixth round when Germany’s Nele Moos registered a new PB of 5.13m to leapfrog into the silver medal position and push Breen out of the medal positions.

Unfortunately, a no jump with her final effort meant the City of Portsmouth athlete finished agonisingly short of the podium in fourth place.

A visibly upset Breen, who was consoled afterwards by coach Aston Moore along with friends and family, said: “I’m very disappointed, it’s obviously tough coming fourth when you’ve jumped the same distance as the bronze medallist.”

“It’s a tough one to swallow but I’ve just got to move forwards really and re-evaluate to come back stronger.

"I realised after the fifth round, I went up to my coach and was like 'right, what can I do?' Obviously, I ended up being just over [the mark on her final jump]. But there's nothing you can do but just hope for the best, it is what it is, the reality of long jump."

RESULTS