Alex Lee was the sole Irish athlete in action on Day 4 of the World Para Athletics Championships as he competed in the Heats of the T64 100 metres. Alex, who is competing in his first ever World Championships, produced a good performance to finish in 6th place in his heat with a time of 12:10, just outside his personal best.
This was Lee’s second appearance at the World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai following his 200m heat on Friday evening. Just like then, it was an agonising affair for Alex who finished just 2 tenths of a second off his best time for the event.
This was a quality field for Alex to compete in which included the European Record holder, Felix Streng from Germany. It was Streng that lived up to the billing as he led the field home with a dominant performance in a time of 10:99, his season’s best. Michail Seitis of Greece and Nick Rogers from the USA secured the other two automatic qualification spots in 2nd and 3rd respectively.
This brought an end to the first ever World Championships for Alex Lee but he was upbeat afterwards ‘The whole experience has been brilliant, the lead up, the last 6 weeks. I’ve been looking forward to it, it’s been exciting, it’s something that if you told me at the start of the year I’d be doing, I would have said ‘you’re joking’ so just to be here is absolutely brilliant.’
He is also determined to use his experience to continue his improvements ‘The plan now is to go back, take two weeks off and then start looking towards next year then and see if I can get those PB’s down, I want to knock 0.2, 0.3 off both of them and I know I’m capable of it, I know what I need to do.’
Tomorrow will be a rest day for Team Ireland before Noelle Lenihan and Niamh McCarthy both compete in the Discus on Tuesday. Noelle Lenihan will be first up at 2:00pm and will be followed immediately afterwards by Niamh McCarthy who will compete in the F41 final at 3:46pm Irish time.
World Para Athletics Championships, Dubai Day 4 Result
Alex Lee, T64 100m Heat, 12:10seconds (6th Place)
World Para Athletics Championships, Dubai Day 6 Schedule
Noelle Lenihan, F38 Discus Final, 6:00pm (2:00pm Irish Time)
Niamh McCarthy, F41 Discus Final, 7:46pm (3:46pm Irish Time)
World Para Athletics Championships, Dubai Day 7 Schedule
Jason Smyth, Men’s 100m T13 Round 1 Heat, 9:45am (5:45am Irish time)
Jordan Lee, Men’s High Jump T47 Final, 6:00pm (2:00pm Irish Time)
