Rushgrove collects second medal of World Championships
University of Bath graduate Ben Rushgrove collected his second medal of the 2011 International Paralympic Committee World Athletics Championships today (Thursday) by taking bronze in the T36 200m.
Rushgrove, who trains at the University with coach Rob Ellchuk, finished third in 200m final in Christchurch, New Zealand in 25.27 seconds.
It means the three University of Bath-based athletes coached by Ellchuk have now medalled in each of the six events in which they have competed, with a total haul of one gold, two silvers and three bronzes to date.
“I went out for gold and I didn’t get anywhere near gold, but the best man won on the day,” said Sports Performance graduate Rushgrove
“I knew that Roman (T36 100m bronze medallist Roman Pavlyk) would get off to a good start and he ran the bend really hard. My starts haven’t been sharp this year and I knew that I’d have it all to do going into the home straight. I ended up racing for silver and even that didn’t quite work out.
“My legs started to fatigue and I tightened up too much,” he continued. “I hadn’t done the training workload I needed to due to various niggles over the year and there was a definite lack of volume, but we did what we could in the time we had, and it’s the work behind the scenes and the tweaks my coach has made to my training that have helped me achieve what I have done out here.
“The race went as expected but that doesn’t stop me being annoyed or disappointed, I just hope these guys turn up at some of our events in the UK over the summer so we can race a few times before London, that’s what we all need.”
Paul Blake, another of Ellchuk’s athletes, goes in the T36 800m final tomorrow after running a championship best in the heats today.
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