Paralympic Games: UAE's Mohammed Othman qualifies for men's 100m T34 final

Wheelchair athlete impresses on Games debut as Emirati shooters fail to make the cut in qualifying rounds in Paris

UAE's Mohammed Othman qualified for the men's 100m T34 final at the Paris Paralympics. Photo: UAE Paralympic Committee

Mohammed Othman advanced to the men's 100m T34 wheelchair final to keep the UAE’s medal hopes alive at the Paris Paralympic Games at the Stade de France on Sunday.

The youngest member in the UAE’s 14-member squad at just 20 years of age, Othman clocked 15.77 seconds to finish fourth in Heat 1. He had to wait for results from second heat before securing his passage into Monday’s final.

Austin Smeenk of Canada won the first heat in a time of 15.38 seconds while Thailand’s Chaiwat Rattana took Heat 2 in a Paralympic record time of 14.81s.

The final line-up also includes multiple Paralympic medal winner and the 100m world record holder Walid Ktila of Tunisia. He was second in his heat behind Rattana.

A member of the Dubai Club for People of Determination, Othman is making his Paralympics debut after taking fourth spot in the World Games in Kobe earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Saif Al Nuaimi and Obaid Al Dahmani failed to qualify for the medal round in the mixed 10m air rifle prone SH1 category.

Al Nuaimi finished 22nd with a score of 629.8 while Al Dahmani (627.1) was placed 29th. Only the top eight qualified for the final round, with Veronika Vadovicova of Slovakia topping the list with 637.8 points.

Joining the two men’s shooters were Ayesha Al Mehairi and Ayesh Al Shamsi, who finished 34th and 37th in the mixed 10m air rifle prone SH2 division.

Meanwhile, triathlon events at the Paris Paralympics have been postponed by a day to Monday due to a drop in the river Seine's water quality following rains, organisers said on Sunday.

The men's triathlon at the Paris Olympics was postponed and several training sessions were reshuffled as adverse weather conditions led to a spike in bacteria levels in the Seine.

"The latest tests show a decrease in water quality in the river following the rain episodes over the last two days," the organisers said in a statement.

"As a result, the water quality at the competition venue on Sunday September 1 is not suitable for swimming and above the threshold established by World Triathlon."

The organisers on Thursday moved 11 para triathlon medal events, initially planned to be held over two days, to a single day on Sunday due to weather concerns, with Monday and Tuesday set aside as contingency days.

Earlier, USA won their first two track and field titles of the Paralympics.

On the same track at the Stade de France where compatriot Noah Lyles won the Olympic gold nearly four weeks ago, Jaydin Blackwell charged to the men's T38 100m final in a world record time of 10.64sec.

Blackwell, who has cerebral palsy, donned a pair of sunglasses to celebrate his victory.

"I had to bring something over here to put a little pizzazz into things," the 20-year-old said.

"It was the perfect race, but I was just focused on what I had to do and get to the line as fast as possible."

There was more success for USA as wheelchair racer Daniel Romanchuk upstaged reigning champion Marcel Hug of Switzerland in an exciting men's 5000m T54 final.

Romanchuk, a 26-year-old who was born with spina bifida, burst past five-time gold medallist Hug in the home straight, leaving the Swiss in silver medal position while Faisal Alrajehi took a rare Paralympic medal for Kuwait in third.