Walsh finishes just outside medals, Fearnley through to final

Rising NSWIS athlete Sarah Walsh has finished sixth in the final of the women’s long jump, T44 on her Paralympic debut.

The 18-year-old student, who had her right leg amputated below the knee as a result of fibula deficiency, leapt 4.82m in her long jump event that was won in a new world record of 5.83 by France’s Marie-Amelie Le Fur.

Walsh’s sixth placing mirrors her result from the 2015 IPC World Championships in Doha.

In other action at the athletics, legendary NSWIS wheelchair racer Kurt Fearnley comfortably won his heat of men’s T54 5000m and qualified for the final on day 4.

Fearnley, competing in his fifth Paralympics, already has won three gold, six silver and two bronze medals in his Paralympic career, including taking out the 5000m in Athens in 2004. He won silver in the event in Beijing in 2008 and London four years ago.

Fellow NSWIS athletes Angela Ballard and Rosemary Little will take to the track on day 3.