Our very own Paralympian James Turner broke the world record by three seconds in the T36 800m race in Rio!
Turner gave it his all, finishing at 2:02.40! He absolutely smashed the previous world record of 2.05.05 and beat his own personal best by almost six seconds. He was an incredible seven seconds ahead of Britain’s Paul Blake who took silver, and William Stedman of New Zealand claimed bronze.
"This is for you, Aussies!" You're a legend @Jimmy_T36! Great run and what a way to win #gold! #Rio2016 https://t.co/m8WxOFspHx
— 7TWO (@7TWOAU) September 17, 2016
“I’m tired now but otherwise I feel fantastic,” he told Channel 7 after the race. “I didn’t know how much of a lead I had, I just focused on the track in front of me and kept putting one foot in front of the other.”
Turner has only been training for this event over the past year with Athletics Wollongong. He’d switched to athletics after his Pararoo soccer team missed qualification for Rio. However, he says that if it wasn’t for them, he wouldn’t have been spotted by Athletics Australia.
“The Para-Roos didn’t make it to Rio and Athletics Australia sent me an email saying ‘hey do you want to run 800m, are you any good at it?’ So I gave it a shot and I guess I’m all right at.”
Heck yeah, you did!
Take your time celebrating and don’t worry about uni, mate! You’ve got the world at your feet.