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Ari Gesini is primed and ready for some serious speed down the Tokyo Olympic Stadium long jump runway.
He checked his speed by running the heats of the 100m (T38) on Saturday. He didn’t make the final but that wasn’t the aim – the T38 Long Jump final on Wednesday was the prize.
This is Gesini’s first Paralympics and he’s looking toward the podium in Japan after finishing agonisingly short of it – 4th – at his first international meet, the 2019 Dubai World Championships.
All three medallists there – China’s Zhu Dening, Russia’s Khetag Khinchagov and Ukraine’s Mykyta Senyk – are in the 12-man long jump final in Tokyo.
Gesini is carrying another mission in his heart. He lost his dad in June and this will be the first time he’s missed one of his competitions – no matter how large or small.
Gesini wears one of his father’s school athletics medals around his neck to keep the connection.
Another field event Final on Wednesday will feature T32 athlete, Rosemary Little, who is at her third Paralympics. But the first two – London and Rio – were on the track, including a 100m bronze in 2012.
Little made the switch to shot put in 2018, and is coached by Breanne Clement, and former Sydney Olympian and four-time Commonwealth Games hammer thrower Karyne Di Marco.
An athlete making a re-connection with the Paralympics after more than 16 years is 2004 Athens wheelchair racer Eliza Ault-Connell, in the 100m (T54) heats.
She burst onto the international scene in 2002, winning a bronze medal in the women’s 800m at the Manchester Commonwealth Games, before upgrading to silver at the World Championships in the 400m later that year.
The 2004 Paralympic podium eluded Ault-Connell – not so, the Olympic podium, with wheelchair racing appearing as a demonstration sport in Athens and the Australian grabbing silver. After an 800m medal at both the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games and 2006 Assen Worlds, Ault-Connell wrapped things up to start a family.
Three children later, and it was their encouragement that got ‘mum’ back into wheelchair racing – and a 400m bronze at the Dubai worlds followed.
The men’s 100m (T54) heats will feature two Australians – Luke Bailey and Sam Carter.
Athletics – Day 6 (all times AEST)
Long Jump (T38) Final: Ari Gesini – 10.39am
Men’s 100m (T54) Heats: Luke Bailey Ht 1 – 12.43pm; Sam Carter Ht 2 – 12.50pm
Women’s 100m (T54) Heats: Eliza Ault-Connell Ht 1 – 1.15pm
Shot Put (F32) Final: Rosemary Little – 8pm
Men’s 100m (T54) Final – 8.30pm
Women’s 100m (T54) Final – 9.46pm
By: Paralympics Australia
Posted: 1 September 2021
