Kelly Cartwright leaps to long jump gold at Paralympics

12 years ago | Posted in: Sports | 618 Views

VICTORIAN long-jumper Kelly Cartwright has added to Australia’s Paralympics medal tally winning gold in the women’s long jump

The 23-year-old from Geelong blitzed the field with her world record jump of 4.38 metres in London.

Eight years ago Cartwright was forced to make the difficult decision to have her leg amputated when it was discovered that she had cancer. The promising netballer then turned to athletics and has never looked back.

Cartwright was one of just six F42 athletes, but outclassed her more able-bodied F44 competitors.

The reigning world champion in the event launched to 4.38m on her third attempt to set a new classification world record and secure gold.

Great Briatin’s Stef Reid had a chance to trump her Australian rival and force Cartwright to put in a last-ditch attempt, but fell short.
“Lining up for my last jump knowing that I already had it in the bag was a weird feeling,” Cartwright said.

“Definitely I was nervous here.

“I went to Beijing, but this is a whole different ballgame for me.

“I was coming in ranked in the top five and I wanted to come out and do well and I did.

“I can’t express how happy and relieved I am at the same time.

Cartwright will compete in the 100m sprint on September 5.

 

 

ref: http://www.news.com.au

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