Athletics Day 3 Preview: More medal events scheduled

(BEIJING, September 10) -- The third day of Athletics is one of the busiest days of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games Athletics calendar. Only one evening session will be held with 17 medal events scheduled on Wednesday.

Medallists from the Athens 2004 Paralympics and world record holders will be setting the tracks ablaze on Wednesday evening.

The crowd puller will undoubtedly be Canada's Golden Girl Chantal Petitclerc who will be looking to add on to her personal medal tally.

Petitclerc, who will be participating in her fifth Paralympics, has already won 16 Paralympic medals over the last four Games and holds the world records for the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m in the T54 class (athletes in wheelchair with different levels of spinal cord injuries and amputations).

At the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, Petitclerc will compete in the T54 class in 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m and 4x100m relay. This evening for the Women's 100m T54, she will be looking to break her own world record of 15.91s.

Another speedster who is hoping to clip a few seconds off her record is Yunidis Castillo of Cuba. Her world record of 12.16s in the Women's 100m T46 (athletes with different levels of amputations and other disabilities including les Autres, eg. dwarfism) was created in Rio de Janeiro in 2007.

Andre Beaudoin of Canada, winner of the Men's 200m T52 (athletes in wheelchair with different levels of spinal cord in juries and amputations) in 2004, will be hoping to repeat that performance and better his Paralympic record of 31.22s in this event. He will face some tough competition from fellow Canadian Dean Bergeron who holds the world record of 30.34s, achieved in Atlanta, USA in 2007.

Another Paralympic record holder who will go up against a world record holder will be Fanie Lombard of South Africa. Lombard, who will take part in the Men's Shot Put F42, won the gold medal in this event in Athens with a throw of 13.81m. Darko Kralj of Croatia comes into this competition with a world record of 14.04m won in Croatia in 2008.

Ireland's Michael Mckillop will also be hoping to win a medal and better his world record time of 2:02.13s in the Men's 800m T37 as will Tim Sullivan in the Men's 400m T38 who won gold in Athens (2004) and Sydney (2000). His record-breaking win of 50.30s in Sydney is yet to be beaten.

The Men's 400m T36 also features a world record holder, Artem Aretyev of the Russian Federation, with his score of 55.28 from the last Paralympics. He will be in pursuit of another gold medal but close on his heels will be Athens' silver medalist So Wa-wai of Hong Kong, China.

Other events to look out for will be the Men's 400m T54, featuring David Weir of Great Britain, the world record holder (46.11s) who will go up against Zhang Lixin of China, the Paralympic record holder (46.75s). For the Women's 400m T53, the three fastest qualifiers, all under one minute, are from the United States, Jessica Galli, Cheri Blauwet and Anjali Forber Pratt.

Medals will also be awarded in the Men's 100m T12, 800m T12, 400m T13 and the long distance race on the cards is the Men's 1500m T46.

On the field, there will be the Women's Discus F32-34/51-53, Women's Javelin F35-38, Men's Javelin F11/12 and Men's Long Jump F46.

Classes 11, 12 and 13 cover athletes with different levels of visual impairment. Classes 32-34 cover athletes in wheelchair with different levels of cerebral palsy while classes 35-38 cover ambulant athletes with different levels of cerebral palsy. Classes 51-58 cover athletes in wheelchair with different levels of spinal cord injuries and amputations and class 40-46 covers athletes with different levels of amputations and other disabilities including les Autres, eg. dwarfism.