World and Paralympic throws champion adds another gold to GB’s medal haul while nation’s female sprinters run a UK 4x100m record on final day of IPC Athletics European Championships

Aled Davies threw 46.46m to win the F42 discus and add a final gold to Great Britain & Northern Ireland’s medal haul on the last day of IPC Athletics European Championships action in Swansea.

Davies’ gold – together with silver medals won by his team-mates Kyron Duke in the F41 shot put and the women’s T35-38 4x100m relay team as well as bronze medals bagged by Dean Miller in the T38 1500m and Isaac Towers in the T34 400m – helped to see the GB team sit third on the medal table behind Russia and Ukraine as the championships came to a close on Saturday.

Welshman Davies won world F42 titles in both the discus and shot put in Lyon one year ago and again did the double in front of a home crowd in Swansea as he added the European discus title to the shot gold he won on Thursday. He is also the Paralympic champion for the discus and won Commonwealth silver in the F42/44 discus competition in Glasgow.

“After watching Dan Greaves throw a big one yesterday I was hoping I might get a good tail wind but the wind seemed to be coming towards me and the discus was going backwards,” said Davies. “I can’t complain too much – I’m chuffed with the second gold medal and the crowd were incredible.”

A short while later and his team-mates Olivia Breen, Sophie Hahn, Jenny McLoughlin and Bethany Woodward combined to clock a national record of 53.84 to secure silver in a T35-38 4x100m relay final won by Russia in a world record time of 53.53, that mark taking more than a second off the previous record also set by a Russian team in 2012.

Ireland s two-time world and three-time Paralympic champion Michael McKillop was another to do the double, adding the T38 1500m title to the gold claimed in the 800m three days before.

Switzerland’s Marcel Hug won a T54 5000m missing GB’s David Weir through injury for his third European title of the week, while Germany’s world record-holder Markus Rehm won the T42/44 long jump, his 7.63m gaining him 1086 points for victory.

Hug’s compatriot Manuela Schaer and Finland’s Henry Manni were also among those to claim multiple titles, the pair winning their fourth golds with victories in the T54 1500m and T34 400m respectively.

Full results can be found here

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