Athletics Day 2 Evening Session Preview: Time to shine in Bird's Nest

(BEIJING, September 9) -- Spectators attending Tuesday evening's Athletics activities are in for a treat, with 13 gold medals to be decided.

Five field athletes will be crowned Paralympic Champions, including in the Men's Long Jump - F37/38 (different levels of ambulant cerebral palsy) and the Men's Javelin Throw - F37/38. The crowd should have plenty to cheer about in both these events, with local athletes expected to put in some strong performance.

In the Men's Javelin - F37/38, the F37 world record holder Xia Dong of China will enter the final as favorite, but he will face tough challenge from his compatriot Zhang Xuelong of China.

The Men's Long Jump - F37/38 will see Ma Yuxi (China) a good chance of picking up some silverware. But all eyes will be on the F37 and F38 world record holder, six-time Paralympic medalist Darren Thrupp from Australia.

The other field events will see wheelchair athletes contesting the Women's Shot Put - F57/58 (classified by their differing levels of spinal cord injury and amputations) and the Men's Javelin Throw - F55/56. The Women's Shot Put - F42-46 (covering ambulant athletes with different levels of amputations and other disabilities) is sure to be one of the highlights of the evening schedule.

Out on track the remaining eight gold medals will be decided, with team work the key in the evening's feature track event - the Men's 4x100m - T53/54. The Athens gold and silver medalists (Thailand and Australia) are likely to battle for the top medals, but they will receive some close competition from the Chinese team (who set a world record of 49.89 seconds in qualifying for the final).

The distance racers and speedsters will all be in action in the T11-T13 (differing levels of visual impairment) classes. The Men's 5000m - T11 is a straight final and will be an endurance battle for both the minds and bodies of the athletes. The 100m - T11 will see some of the competition's fastest sprinters on track competing for gold, having qualified through Monday's heats and Tuesday morning's semifinals. Lucas Prado of Brazil blitzed the field in the heats to set a world record (11.19) in qualifying fastest for the semifinals. He repeated his form on Tuesday morning, running a time of 11.20, and will be a favorite for gold in Tuesday evening's final.

The Women's 800m - T13/12 will see strong performances from eight of the world's best performers. Assia El'Hannouni of France qualified fastest for the final in a season's best of 2:09.21. Russian Elena Pautova was second fastest in 2:17.27 and the pair will be keeping a close eye on Somaya Bousaid of Tunisia and Rima Batalova of Russia who also clocked speedy times in qualifying.

Blink and you might miss four of the fastest races on Tuesday evening in the T40-46 classes (covering ambulant athletes with different levels of amputations and other disabilities) and the T38 class (covering ambulant athletes with different levels of cerebral palsy). The Men's 100m - T44, the Women's 100m - T38, the Women's 200m T44 (a straight final) and the Men's 200m - T46 are all set to be fantastic races.

In the Men's 100m - T44, Oscar Pistorius of South Africa equaled the Paralympic record (11.16) to qualify easily for the final. With solid heat times, American Jerome Singleton, Brian Frasure and Marlon Shirley will all be trying to upset the favorite in the final.

In the Women's 100m - T38, a record-breaking performance may be needed to take the gold. In the opening heat on Tuesday morning, Sonia Mansour of Tunisia ran a Paralympic record (13.65). Her record was bettered in the second heat, by the fastest qualifier Inna Dyachenko of Ukraine, in a world record time of 13.56. The pair will both be keen for another record time in the final.

In the Men's 200m - T46, Australia's Heath Francis qualified fastest in the heats in a time of 22.13 seconds.