Rosemary Little joined Michael Roeger as an Australian medal winner at the IPC athletics world championships in France, with the London Paralympian taking home silver on Saturday in the women's wheelchair T34 200m.
Adding to the bronze she won in the T34 wheelchair 100m at the 2012 Paralympic Games, Little's time of 33.73s, behind British Paralympic champion Hannah Cockroft (31.78s), is a personal best by more than a second and a new Oceania and Australian record.
"The only goal that I had coming into this event was to execute a good race and set a personal best, so the medal is a nice bonus. I knew that I had someone on my shoulder but wasn't quite sure where everybody else was. Initially, I thought I was going to be overtaken but I held on and it's a positive result.
"The training that I have been doing with my new coach Louise Sauvage has made me a stronger athlete and I think that helped me in the closing stages. I have to thank her for being here. She has pushed me a lot."
Little competes in the T34 class for athletes with cerebral palsy or an acquired brain injury. The Sydney-sider narrowly missed out on the 2004 Paralympic Games, and did not make her Australian debut until London last year.
Australia's other finalist was 16-year-old South Australian Braydon Davidson in the T36 long jump for athletes with cerebral palsy. He is the youngest male on the Australian team.
Davidson soared to a personal best of 5.00m on his first attempt. Two fouls followed, before leaps of 4.81m, 4.41m and 3.35m. He placed fourth overall, adding a fourth top-eight for Australia, with Roman Pavlyk of Ukraine winning gold with a world record-breaking jump of 5.44m.
"It was great to be out there. I got a personal best and an Oceania record. It was everything that I wanted," Davidson said.
Three-time London 2012 medallist Angela Ballard (NSW) and Paralympic silver medallist Madison de Rozario (WA) advanced to the round of eight in the T53 wheelchair 200m and T54 wheelchair 5000m respectively, while Chad Perris (WA) enjoyed his first taste of Australian Flame representation in the T13 200m for athletes with visual impairments.
On day two of competition, almost half the Australian team will take to the track or field for rounds, semi-finals and finals.
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