By Mark Ashenden
Last Updated: 08/11/19 5:20pm
Samantha Kinghorn was defending champion heading to Dubai
British wheelchair sprinter and Sky Scholar Samantha Kinghorn battled to bronze in the T53 100m at the World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai on Friday.
It was Great Britain’s second medal of the Championships following Paul Blake’s stunning gold on the opening night in the T36 800m.
There had been high hopes for Sky Scholar Kinghorn having eased into the final with a season’s best 16.39 seconds.
Two years after her golden double in the T53 100m and 200m at the London World Championships, Kinghorn was pipped to silver by China’s Zhou Hongzhuan as compatriot Gao Fang produced a late burst to storm home for gold.
Kinghorn chose only to race the shorter sprint in Dubai after surgery in the summer left her out of action for seven weeks.
3:11 Kinghorn shows off her training camp in Tenerife in the build-up to the World Championships
“I’m so happy,” she told British Athletics. “It’s so tough coming here after being the world’s best two years ago. But after the year I’ve had I’m so pleased to be back on the podium.
“It gives me so much confidence for next year and now I’m just powering down for the Tokyo Olympics.
“I got a better start than last night (in the heat) and I slipped a few times. I panicked but I know there are things I can work on.
“I’ve got a World medal though and I know I can do better and get faster. I was thinking top five coming here so just getting on that podium is amazing and hopefully I can fight for a higher medal in Tokyo.”
