World Para Athletics Championships Broadcast On Nine

Paralympic gold medallists James Turner and Vanessa Low will lead the quest for glory at the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships.   

The 20-strong team, which includes a mix of mainstays and relative newcomers, will see some athletes fight to earn a top two finish to secure all-important quota spots for Australia’s Paralympic Games campaign. 

Australian audiences will be able to watch squad take on the world’s best in Japan with Paralympic broadcaster the Nine Network streaming the event live and free on 9Now from May 17 to 25. 

With 14 medals in tow from last year’s iteration of the global championships in Paris, the Australian team will march into Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium ready to compete one last time before the Paralympic Games.  

Athletes who achieved a top four placing at last year’s edition earned quota positions for their country, but with another major championship less than one year later, only athletes who missed out will be able to do so, adding extra significance to the country’s quest. 

Three-time Paralympic medallist Jaryd Clifford is preparing to take on reigning champions Ruoay Jebabli (Tunisia) and Yassine Ouhad El Ataby (Spain) in the 1500m T13 and 5000m T13 after battling across the finish line last year. 

“The last 12 months have been some of the toughest in my career. Three bone stress injuries in nine months have made it a rocky road leading to Kobe,” Clifford said. 

“These races are hugely important. I’ve only raced my international rivals once since Tokyo and that was with a fractured femur last year. 

“For me, Kobe is a reconnaissance mission for Paris and a chance to gauge my competitors and any new competition that has emerged in the last few years and these performances will only mark the beginnings for what is possible at the Paralympic Games in Paris later this year.” 

Joining Clifford in the distance frenzy will be former world champion Deon Kenzie who is marked as Australia’s best chance at grabbing onto an additional quota spot as just one of four athletes in the T38 class that have broken the four-minute barrier over 1500m. 

2024 silver medallist Michael Roeger will go head-to-head with the man who narrowly beat him to gold in the 1500m T46 last year, Hristiyan Stoyanov (Bulgaria), while Samuel Rizzo adds to the distance action, having shattered Australian legend Kurt Fearnley’s national 1500m T54 record from 2012 earlier this year.   

Australian record holders will light up the field in the throws events, with Jackson Hamilton and former world champion Corey Anderson ready to launch the spear, while proud Wakawaka and Gubbi Gubbi woman Samantha Schmidt prepares to rattle the discus cage. 

The World Para Athletics Championships – May 17 to 25.  

https://www.9now.com.au/world-para-athletics-championships 

Australian Team: 

Men: 

100m: Chad Perris (T13), Luke Bailey (T54), Jaydon Page (T47), Sam Carter (T54) 

400m: James Turner (T36), Carter 

800m: Samuel Rizzo (T54), Bailey 

1500m: Michael Roeger (T46), Rizzo, Jaryd Clifford (T12), Deon Kenzie (T38) 

5000m: Clifford 

Long Jump: Nicholas Hum (T20), Ari Gesini (T38) 

Javelin: Corey Anderson (F38), Jackson Hamilton (F13) 

Women: 

100m: Abby Craswell (T36), Ella Pardy (T38), Sarah Clifton-Bligh (T33) 

200m: Mali Lovell (T36), Abby Craswell 

800m: Sarah Clifton-Bligh (T33) 

Long Jump: Vanessa Low (T61), Sarah Walsh (T64) 

Shot Put: Sarah Clifton-Bligh (F32) 

Discus: Samantha Schmidt (F38) 

By Natalie McGarry, Paralympics Australia and Athletics Australia

Published 15 May, 2024.