media_artricles :: 2017

Stewart claims second gold at World Para Athletics

AKEEM Stewart was at it again, as the Trinidad and Tobago athlete broke a 20-year world record when he won gold in the men's shot put F44 final on the closing day at the London 2017 World Para Athletics Championships, yesterday.

The feat follows his gold medal and world record breaking performance in the men's javelin F44 event on Tuesday. Stewart's first heave of 18.34 metres was enough to give him the gold medal and the world record, but the Tobagonian was eager to put distance between himself and the rest of the field. His second attempt was 18.02m, before he fouled his third attempt. 

He set the new world record on his fourth heave with a 19.08m effort, followed by 19.01m on his fifth heave and 18.88m on his final attempt. Jorg Frischmann of Germany held the previous world record of 14.21m for the past 20 years. 

Adrian Matusik of Slovakia copped silver with a 15.99m effort, while Ibrahim Ahmed Abdelwareth of Egypt earned bronze with a 15.65m effort. 

According to the World Para Athletics website Stewart said, "This was a dream come true. I finally had an opportunity to do the shot put in a championships, so I'm really happy. The javelin is a hobby, but this is what I can do when I train for it." Stewart said his goal was to break the shot put world record, but he did not expect to surpass the record by that distance. "I wanted to break the world record to write my name in the record books, but I didn't think I'd break it by so far." The TT athlete did not get on the podium in the men's discus F44 event, but he has plans to win that event in the future. "I had to settle for fifth in the discus, but I'm going to come back and win that too." Nyoshia Cain got bronze in the women's T44 100m earlier in the competition, as TT ended the championships with three medals — two gold and one bronze. 

Jabari Knights (men's 100m T54, men's 200m T54) and Carlos Greene (men's discus F11) also represented TT . 

The TT world championships team will aim to continue the momentum at the 2017 London World Championships from August 4 to 13.

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