24 Jan 2011

First gold medal for Pistorius

1:50 pm on 24 January 2011

The `Blade Runner' Oscar Pistorius has claimed his first sprint gold medal at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Christchurch with an emphatic win in the 200 metres T44.

After his main rival Jerome Singleton made a lightning start to lead early, Pistorius gathered in the American on the turn and beat him by nearly a second in 21.80, 0.22secs outside his world record.

Pistoris says he's very happy with his performance but is more guarded about his chances in the 100 metres tomorrow as he's been concentrating on the longer events.

So far five 23 World Records and 43 Championship records have been broken at the championships.

Three New Zealanders will be in action tomorrow. Kate Horan of Wellington in the 100m T44 heats and the 200m final, Joe Flavell of Auckland in the F42 shot put and Opotiki's Matthew Lack in the 1500m heats .