Elkington-Jones highlights athletics, swimming, kayaking, equestrian and cycling results

Rising NSWIS star Jodi Elkington-Jones has overcome illness to break through for her first medal at a major championships when she won the bronze in the women’s T37 long jump at the Rio Paralympics.

A veteran of two world championships and the London 2012 Paralympic Games, a proud Elkington-Jones paid tribute to her family, her support staff and her home town of Wodonga after her third jump of 4.30m secured her place on the podium.

It capped a whirlwind week for the 23-year-old, who had been bedridden with illness in the Athletes’ Village over the weekend.

“It’s a dream come true, finally. All the hard work has paid off, not just over the past four years but over the last ten,” Elkington-Jones told the Australian Paralympic Committee’s media team.

“To finally say that I’m a Paralympic medallist, I’m ecstatic.

“I did get sick on Friday and I’ve in bed for the past couple of days. So to get out here and jump so well means I’m pretty proud of myself.”

Meanwhile, the only other NSWIS athlete in a track and field final on day 7, Rosemary Little, finished fourth in the women’s T34 400m final.

In heats action for NSWIS athletes, Madi de Rozario progressed to the women’s T54 5000m final as the fifth fastest qualifier after crossing the line fourth in heat two, while Christie Dawes finished 11^th overall and missed qualification after getting caught in the slower first heat, where she also finished fourth.

Equestrian

NSWIS rider Lisa Martin has fallen agonisingly short of winning Australia’s first equestrian medal at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

The 44-year-old scored 71.476% aboard her horse Fast Famous, which saw her finish 0.976 behind the bronze medal position in the individual championship test grade IV.

But Martin told the Australian Paralympic Committee’s media team she was thrilled with her performance.

“I was just stoked with the horse. This is only her third time doing that test, so you couldn’t ask anything more of her. There are some amazing horses here and I’m just really proud to be representing my country.”

Great Britain’s Sophie Wells claimed gold, Belgium’s Michele George won silver, and Frank Hosmar of the Netherlands took bronze.

Martin of Scone has now qualified for the individual freestyle test on Friday.

“It’s really different altogether. I’ve got sequence changes in canter, I’ve got canter pirouettes in it, but I’ve still got my simple changes. It’s a lot more exciting.”

Canoe Sprint

NSWIS paddler Colin Sieders has progressed through to tomorrow’s final of the men’s single kayak (K1) 200m KL1 event after placing fourth in his heat and again fourth in the semi-finals.

Sieders, who was 15-years-old when he was involved in the first of two major car accidents in his life, an accident that would see the left side of his pelvis torn out of his body, resulting in 30 major operations. In total, Colin was in hospital for 51 weeks straight, including 88 days in intensive care.

Two years later however, at just 17, Colin became the first V8 supercar driver in the world with a disability when he joined his family’s V8 Supercars team, Sieders Racing Team and went on to enjoy a successful career until the second of his accidents in 2011, put him back in a wheelchair.

The results from both accidents led Sieders to the kayak and after an international debut in Para-canoe in 2013 at the ICF Para-canoe World Championships where he placed 7^th in the K1 200m sprint Sieders set his sights on Rio. He will race for gold tomorrow.

The NSWIS’s other paddler on the water, Dylan Littlehales, was eliminated in the semi-finals of the men’s single kayak (K1) 200m KL3.

Littlehales was sixth in the semis after placing fourth in his heat.

Cycling – Road

Alexandra Lisney, who also competed on the velodrome in Rio, was the NSWIS’s best performance on the opening day of road cycling competition, finishing one spot outside the medals in the women’s C4 20km time trial.

Lisney (30:28.39) finished a mere nine seconds behind teammate Sue Powell (30:19.29) to be 42 seconds off the gold medal time of American Shawn Morelli and 13 seconds slower than Megan Fisher also from the US.

In other cycling results for NSWIS athletes, Matt Formston and pilot Nick Yallouris, placed 13th, 2:19 off the pace in the men’s B Time Trial, whilst in the women’s C1-2-3 class Simone Kennedy placed 10th and Amanda Reid was 11th.

Swimming

Over at the pool, yesterday’s NSWIS bronze medallist Matt Levy has helped Australia to fifth in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay – 34 points final – in an event won by Ukraine from home side Brazil and China.

Another NSWIS swimmer who has been busy throughout the Games, Jenna Jones, finished seventh in the final of the women’s S13 50m freestyle with a time of 28.77.

In heats action Prue Watt was tenth and Sean Russo 15^th in their respective S13 50m freestyle preliminaries.

Story with Australian Paralympic Committee