Austin Smeenk races to fifth in men’s 100-metre

Story by Athletics Canada

DUBAI – Diane Roy returned to the track at the Dubai Club on Day 4 of the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships, looking to punch her ticket into the 1500-metre final. Along with Jessica Frotten, the duo competed in the women’s 1500-metre T54 qualifying round after already testing out the track in the 800-metres and 400-metres on Saturday.

Pushing hard right to the finish line, Roy finished sixth in heat one, qualifying with a time of 3:44.37. In heat two, Frotten clocked a time of 3:47.88 for fifth in her heat but missed the final qualifying spot based on time.

Austin Smeenk and Lee Leclerc got the day started off in round one of the men’s 100-metres T34 competition, putting on strong showing for Canada. In his first World Para Athletics Championships, Leclerc raced through the finish line with a time of 17.74.

Smeenk continued his strong Championships, qualifying for the 100-metre final with a time of 15.66, finishing in second place in heat two behind what would be a new Championships record time of 14.89 by Ktila Walid of Tunisia. The Oakville-native went on to finish fifth with a time of 16.09 in the final.

Back at it tomorrow for Day 5 of the World Para Athletics Championships, the trio of Josh Cassidy, Alexandre Dupont, and Brent Lakatos will race in the men’s 1500-metre T54 competition, hoping to qualify for the final. Madison Wilson-Walker will make her first appearance at these World Championships, stepping onto the runway for the women’s long jump T64 final.

The World Para Athletics Championships are the largest Para sport event to be held before the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and run from November 7 to 15 in Dubai. More than 1,400 athletes from almost 120 nations are competing. 

Viewers will be able to follow the action via the free CBC Gem streaming service, cbcsports.ca, the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices, and CPC Facebook page, as well as the Radio-Canada Sports app and radio-canada.ca/sports.

For the broadcast schedule, please visit Paralympic.ca/Paralympic-Super-Series.