Cuba’s Omara Durand stormed to her sixth Paralympic Games gold as her decade of dominance continued on Tuesday (31 August), day five of Para athletics at Tokyo 2020. The 29-year-old ’queen of speed’ won the women’s 400m T12 by more than 2.5 seconds to claim her third successive title in the event. “My secret is sacrifice for training and good coaching. That is all,” the 11-time world champion said. Durand will look to add to her golden Paralympic haul in the 100m and 200m T12. Ukraine’s Oksana Boturchuk took the silver and Venezuela’s Alejandra Perez the bronze. It was a special morning for Cuba as the country bagged its first two gold medals at Tokyo 2020. If Omara was going for her sixth title, Robiel Yankiel Sol made his Paralympic debut in the men’s long jump T47. His first attempt was a Paralympic record of 7.46m that gave him the gold medal three centimeters ahead of USA’ defending champion Roderick Townsend. RPC’s Nikita Kotukov finished in third. The competition also marked the Games debut for Afghanistan at Tokyo 2020 as Hossain Rasouli set a personal best of 4.46 to finish 13th.
