Weir continues to shine

Sep 3 2012

David Weir, racing on less than three hours' sleep, began his bid for a second gold medal of the London Paralympics by safely qualifying for the final of the 1500 metres.

The 33-year-old athlete sent the decibel levels at the Olympic Stadium though the roof by claiming a brilliant T54 5,000m victory on Sunday night and his return to the track was greeted by another huge ovation.

The Londoner did just enough to make it through, coming home in third place in three minutes 11.35 seconds.

Swiss world record holder Marcel Hug won the heat in 3mins 11.17secs, with Thailand's Prawat Wahoram second.

Weir, who is going for four golds in London, said: "I feel quite fresh actually, which is surprising. When they upped the pace I didn't feel like I was struggling at all. Maybe I should have come round Marcel, but I didn't realise Prawat was coming up so quickly.

"I had bags of speed in my arms, that just shows you how fit I am. A lot of it's adrenaline as well from last night."

Weir did not leave the stadium until 1am on Monday morning as he went through doping control, getting back to his room at 2am and finally getting to sleep at 3.30am. He had to be up again this morning at 6am.

"At first it is (difficult to come down from the high of last night)," he added. "I had to put a film on my laptop to make sure I fell asleep. I will go and have a nap this afternoon after my medal presentation and go to bed early tonight."

With no Britons contesting finals on Monday morning, Weir's return to the track was the highlight of the session.

Micky Bushell, the Beijing silver medallist, cruised into the final of the T53 100m, winning his heat with plenty to spare in 14.86s. The 21-year-old, who was born with seven vertebrae missing from the lower part of the back, goes for gold on Monday night.