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Sabrina Fortune takes gold and set's a new World Record in the F20 shot put
02/09/2024 00:00, In Blog /
Sabrina Fortune (Deeside AAC) left nothing to chance in the Paris Paralympics F20 shot put final at the Stade De France on Sunday night.
With her very first throw of the night, Fortune effectively ended the event as a competition by smashing her own world record and all but securing the gold medal in the opening round.
The reigning world champion left the huge crowd gasping as she launched the put out to a mammoth 15.12m – obliterating the world record of 14.83m she set in Birmingham earlier this summer.
The remainder of the competition was a virtual formality as the rest of the field tried in vain to get near the Welsh woman’s remarkable distance.
Home athlete Gloria Agblemagnon, roared on by a partisan crowd, came the closest to challenging Fortune’s winning distance by producing a big new personal best of 14.43m in the fourth round.
But as if to reinforce her dominance of the competition, Fortune replied by producing another huge effort of 14.95m with her own fourth round put and then added a distance of 14.90 in the fifth round for good measure.
As the distance of her sixth round effort of 14.92m was confirmed, a delighted Fortune raced across the track towards the crowd to celebrate with her coach Ryan Spencer-Jones, who as well as being Welsh Athletics’ national throws co-ordinator is also GB team lead for throws in Paris.
On a medal-laden night for Great Britain at the Stade De France, which also saw gold for Hannah Cockroft and silvers for Kare Adenegan and Sammi Kinghorn, Fortune’s victory was the most impressive performance of them all.
Fortune, whose challenge at the Tokyo Paralympics was hampered by injury which saw her eventually finish fifth, said: “I was really worried after Tokyo and then I just accepted the fact that it doesn’t mean you will always stay down.
“You will stand up and sometimes you stand up much better and I just hoped I would do so and after this year, after world record, after world record, after world record and PBs, I was just going ‘you know what, anything can happen’ and I’m going with being positive over it and hoping that it’s going to be a good day.”
After gleefully ringing the stadium’s celebration bell as Paralympic Champion, the three-time world champion and Rio Paralympics bronze medallist admitted to being surprised by the length of her first throw and to being “scared” of the atmosphere generated by the huge crowds at the Stade De France.
"I was expecting about 14m on the first throw, just a simple throw and then I hit the world record," she said.
"I just wanted to jump up and down and celebrate right then and then I remembered I have five more throws after that and couldn’t do it yet.”
On the atmosphere in the stadium, Fortune added: "This is a magical atmosphere. It’s like you’re walking into a world that is just crazy.
"The roar around you is deafening. I was so scared after watching it on TV the last four or five days, I was so scared of going out there, but it was so amazing. It’s something that I don’t think I’ll ever forget."
During the morning session, Fortune’s fellow Welsh athlete Funmi Oduwaiye (DSW Para Athletics) finished eighth in the F64 women’s discus.
The former basketball international experienced a mixed series of throws during the morning session final at a packed Stade De France.
After a foul with her first attempt, Oduwaiye produced a consistent series of distances with her next four throws before registering another no throw in the final round.
The 21-year-old’s fifth round distance of 33.32m was her longest, which brough her eighth place in a competition which was dominated by Chinese duo Yue Yang, who claimed gold with a season’s best 42.39m and Juan Yao, who was second with 41.98m.
After the competition Oduwaiye, who only made her major GB international debut at last year’s Para World Athletics Championships in Paris, commented on the experience of competing in front of such a huge crowd.
“I came into the stadium and just looking up, it’s crazy the amount of people that are in one space,” said Oduwaiye.
“And the roar, I really like that environment. I managed to stay calm as well so I’m proud of that.”
Oduwaiye will have the opportunity to put that experience to good use on Thursday morning when she returns to the Stade De France to contest the F64 shot put, the discipline where she finished fourth at last year’s World Championships.