What To Watch For At The Paralympic Track And Field World Championships

Nestled amongst the desert and sky high buildings, lies Doha’s premier sports venue - the Qatar Sports Club. Beginning tomorrow morning, the newly built stadium will host the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships, the biggest world championships the sport has seen to date. This year’s competition will showcase 1,300 athletes from 90 countries, including 35 percent more female athletes than the last world championships held in Lyon, France in 2013. The 81 athlete U.S. roster features a mix of veteran athletes and newbie sensations that will bring excitement, record breaking performances and medals homes. Here’s a snapshot of just a few can’t miss competitions to come during the next eleven days. Follow along with all of the action with with a free live stream at USParalympics.org.

Day-by-day Highlights

October 22^nd

• Women’s T42 Long Jump Final: Scout Bassett and Lacey Henderson will face off in the women’s T42 long jump. If either grab a podium spot, it will be the first U.S. woman to medal in the T42 category.
• Men’s T44 Discus Final: World recorder holder Jeremy Campbell looks to remain the best, but after grabbing bronze in Toronto, newcomer David Blair raises the stakes for a podium finish.

October 23^rd

• Men’s 100m T11 Final: The fastest T11 sprinter in the world, David Brown, alongside guide Jerome Avery, will look to defend his title in the 100 and beat his time of 10.95.  
• Women’s 200m T52 Final: – After just finishing her PhD, Kerry Morgan is back on the track to add another gold medal to her collection. Without the current record holder Michelle Stillwell competing, it’s anybody’s race.

October 24^th

• Women’s F51 Club Final: She’s only one year into the sport but Racheal Morrison already has the world record and is poised to continue to make a name for herself in Doha.
• Men’s 800m T38 Final: Currently ranked in the top six of the world, Austin Handley has been consistently making improvements in practice to be a top competitor.

October 25^th

• Men’s 200M T44 Final: World record holder Richard Browne is back to break his own world record and fight off close competition from Brazilian Alan Oliviera and U.S. newbies Trenton Merrill and Hunter Woodhall.
• Women’s F44 Discus Final: Current American record holder Natalie Bieule will face off against high school student Jessica Heims and high school teacher Fawn Washington.

October 26^th

• Men’s 1500m T52 Final: Reigning World Champion Ray Martin looks to regain his title against Isaiah Rigo and 2013 World Championships bronze medalist Steven Toyoji. If Martin repeats his last world championship run, he will look to grab another five gold medals in Doha.
• Women’s 1500m T11 Final: After struggling with back-to-back races in Toronto, Ivonne Mosquera-Schmidt is looking to redeem herself in the 1500, her sole race in Doha.

October 27^th

• Women’s 800m T53 Final: The top T53 women in the world, Chelsea McClammer and Shirley Reilly will face off in another close match up. Will McClammer hold onto the gold or will Reilly sneak in past her this time to take the first place spot?
• Men’s T11 Long Jump Final: He took gold in Toronto and Lyon; can Lex Gillette break his own 6.67 mark in Doha?

October 28^th

• Women’s  800m T34 Final: Fifteen-year old Alexa Halko may be young but she’s already proven she can be one of the best. She’ll face current champion Hannah Cockroft, whom she’s met once before in Indianapolis were competition was tight.
• Men’s 200m T42 Final: Both newer to the sport but with years between them, Desmond Jackson will face Regas Woods in an exciting 200 meter duel.

October 29^th

• Men’s T47 High Jump Final: After setting multiple world records in his first three major competitions, Roderick Townsend looks to improve his world record high jump of 2.12 that he set at the Parapan American games earlier this year.
• Women’s 100m T44 Final: The perennial queen of sprints April Holmes, who has a won a medal at every major championship since she began, will look to grab the top podium spot once again.  

October 30^th

• Women’s 100m T13 Final: Former Chico State athlete Kym Crosby hopes to break the Brazilian strong hold among the women’s visually impaired races.
• Men’s F52 Shot Put Final: After medaling in London and Lyon, Army veteran Scot Severn hopes to strike gold in Doha. 

October 31^st

• Men’s 4x100 T44 Final: The relay pool is loaded and mixed with top talents including Richard Browne, David Prince, Trenten Merrill, Roderick Townsend and AJ Digby, with hopes of repeating another top relay finish for the U.S