O’Hanlon sprints to his fourth Games podium

29 August 2021

O’Hanlon sprints to his fourth Games podium

Four-time Paralympian Evan O’Hanlon has won bronze in the 100m and long jumper Sarah Walsh placed seventh on day two of the athletics program at the Tokyo Paralympics.

European based Evan O’Hanlon made his debut at the Beijing Paralympics winning the T38 100m. He maintained his podium level placing in London and Rio, but his leadup form to Tokyo had been difficult, breaking his foot and requiring two surgeries in the past 18 months as his leadup times were below his usual standard.

“Two months ago I ran 11.70 flat out,” O’Hanlon told Margie McDonald of Paralympic Australia.

After a good heat run of 11.31 on Friday, he was looking good for his fourth consecutive podium finish. In the final O’Hanlon ran strong from the blocks to place third in the same time as second – a brilliant 11.00. The race went to rising British star Thomas Young who ran 10.94. Photo finished were required to split O’Hanlon and China’s Zhu Dening.

“I’m really happy with that,” remarked O’Hanlon. “In Rio I was pretty disappointed with silver but I’m just pumped to be back on the podium.”

“Obviously it would have been nice to go 10.99, or just get a look at the photo finish to see if we can work out a 0.001.

“That would have meant I’d have gone below 11 seconds in four Games and I think that’s pretty impressive.”

O’Hanlon credit’s his recent form shift to his coach.

“I’ve improved that much and that’s basically (coach) Iryna Dvoskina’s work. She just points me in the right direction and I do what I’m told.”

Aiming to become a Winter Olympian with the able-bodied Australian bobsleigh team, he hinted this might be his last Paralympics.

“I think that’s the end of Paralympic Games. I’ll most likely have a go at Commonwealth Games next year and then the World Championships just after that.”

In contrast, at the start of her career is 23-year-old Sarah Walsh, competing in her second Paralympics. She contested the T64 long jump, placing seventh with a leap of 5.11m. It was a high standard event with Holland’s Fleur Jong raising her own world record to 6.16m.

“The level of the girls I compete against is insane. I knew going in I would have to just pull out a big jump – but I just couldn’t really put it all together as I wanted to,” Walsh told Paralympic Australia.

“But I’m just so happy and excited to be competing at a Paralympic Games. It’s been a long time coming so to finally be here in Tokyo is pretty special. I mean, after everything we’ve gone through the past 18 months, the job today was to jump big and enjoy the moment and I definitely enjoyed every minute out there.”

NSW athletes next compete Wednesday with Luke Bailey in the T54 100m and Rosemary Little in the F32 shot put.

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW
Image: Evan O’Hanlon