9 from Team NSWIS in World Para Athletics Championships

This weekend the World Para Athletics Championships begins in London, and a total of nine athletes from the NSW Institute of Sport will compete between 14th and 23rd of July.

London 2017 will be the eighth edition of the World Para Athletics Championships, and the first since IPC Athletics was rebranded to World Para Athletics. The event also marks the first time that the Championships have been held back-to-back with the IAAF equivalent.

Among the names competing are veterans Kurt Fearnley (T54 long distance) and Angie Ballard (T53 sprinter & long distance), along with some fresher faces such as T38 long jumper & sprinter Erin Cleaver and T34 sprinter Rheed McCracken.

View the schedule of our athletes competing times below. More information can be found on the official website for the World Para Athletics Championships.

Angie Ballard
Angie Ballard is a world-class competitor with vast experience and has been selected for a record seventh World Para-Athletics Championships. She has just returned to Australia after a successful series of events in Switzerland, where she broke personal bests, Australian records and even dipped under times that would have been world records, only to be edged out for the win. At the Rio Paralympics, she claimed silver in the 4x400m relay and bronze in the 100m and 400m.

Erin Cleaver
In little over two years, and under the guidance of Newcastle-based sprint and jump coach, Shaun Fletcher, Erin debuted for Australia at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha. There she landed a personal best of 4.45m, earning a fourth-place finish among the world’s top long jump contenders. She also competed in the 100m sprint and the 4x100m relay, in a team comprising Isis Holt, Jodi Elkington-Jones and Ella Pardy. Unfortunately, they crossed the line for third but were disqualified for an illegal second change.

Madison de Rozario
Madison de Rozario is one of the most promising young athletes in wheelchair racing. As the youngest competitor in the 2008 Australian Paralympic Team, 14-year-old Madison was stoked to be a part of the 4x100m relay team that won silver. She also raced well enough to compete in the final of the 100m event. In a series of races in Switzerland in June, Madison smashed her personal bests in the 800m, 1500m and 5000m, with the latter being a new Australian record.

Kurt Fearnley
With over a decade of experience, Kurt Fearnley’s wheelchair racing career is as impressive as it is extensive. He has won New York, Sydney, Paris, London, Seoul and Chicago. He has also won three gold, seven silver and three bronze medals across five Paralympic Games. Kurt was selected as co-captain of the 2016 Australian Paralympic Team, representing his country proudly in the 1500m, 5000m (bronze), and marathon (silver).  At the world championships, he has claimed four gold and one bronze.

Guy Henly
Less than a year after Guy Henly first threw a discus, he won gold at the Arafura Games in Darwin, and in 2013 he represented Australia at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon, France, where he nabbed bronze. Guy is coached by former top Australian hammer throwers, Karyne Di Marco and Breanne Clement. He looked a medal chance for Rio after he won silver at the 2015 IPC World Championships in Doha, Qatar, but placed fourth at the Games, throwing 51.97m.

Rheed McCracken
Having only started wheelchair racing two years before making his Paralympic debut in London, Rheed McCracken is well-placed to become a legend in the sport. In his short career, he has already claimed eight podium finishes at world championships and Paralympics. At the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio, Rheed put up another solid performance, medalling in both his events. Trying his hand at middle-distance racing, he crossed for third in the 800m.

Evan O’Hanlon
After returning from London, Evan continued to turn heads. In 2014, he became the fastest Australian Paralympian ever across all classes when he ran the 100m in 10.79 seconds. He also qualified for the able-bodied National Championships after winning the 100m at the ACT titles. Evan had hoped to break his own world record at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and set it so low that no one would ever touch it. Unfortunately, as Evan later reflected, it just wasn’t his Games. He crossed for silver in the 100m and an injury flare-up caused him not to compete in the 400m.

James Turner
James Turner first represented Australia in football 7-a-side at the 2012 AFC Dream Asia Cerebral Palsy Tournament in Abu Dhabi, but turned his attention to athletics when the Para-roos did not qualify for the 2016 Paralympic Games. The following year James clocked his maiden qualifier for the Games with a time of 2:08.90 in the 800m at the 2016 Australian Athletics Championships, and when he hit the track in Rio, he stunned locals with his brave, world record-breaking performance, crossing for gold with a time of 2:02.40.

Sarah Walsh
At her Paralympic debut, Sarah placed sixth in long jump after landing a whopping 4.82m – a new Oceanic record. Her great form continued in the 2016/17 summer season where she smashed the Oceania record with a best of 5.05m. Sarah is coached by Brett Robinson and trains six days a week. She completes three track sessions, two home-gym sessions and a pool session, in which she either swims or does water running. She also plays wheelchair basketball with the Sutherland Wheelie Sharks, with hopes to represent Australia in it as well.

*times subject to change