RTE NEWS Irish paralympic sprinter Jason Smyth has broken his own 100m (T13 category for visually impaired athletes) world record in his first competitive start of the season. The Derry man recorded a time of 10.85 seconds at the Paralympic World Cup in Manchester.
Smyth set his pervious record of 10.86 seconds at the Paralympic world championships in 2006, where he won gold in the T13 100m and 200m.
Derek Malone clocked a time of 55.97seconds to take bronze in the 400m (T38 category; cerebral palsy). Malone is chasing a qualification time of 54 seconds to be in contention for a spot on the Irish Paralympic team.
In the velodrome, Irish records tumbled.
The best results for the eight-strong Irish cycling team came in the women’s tandem 3km pursuit final (blind and visually impaired category), where Catherine Walsh and pilot rider Joanna Hickey took bronze, defeating their Chinese counterparts in the ride off. Earlier, in qualification, the pair had set a new Irish record at the distance of 3:56.146. They also set a new Irish record in the 1km time trial on Thursday, taking fourth overall in 1:18.5.
