Comments from ParalympicsGB athletes following this morning’s session.
Zachary Shaw
Result: won his men’s T12 100m heat in 11.15, after a photo finish that saw him qualify for the final by 0.01s
Age: 28
Hometown: Loughborough
On the photo finish:
“I guess one of the things about being visually impaired is that you can't see the screen so I got told I had come second. It wasn't until I got to the mixed zone and someone said 'congratulations you've made the final' that I realised.
“I asked them to read the scoreboard three or four times to make sure but I'm really happy that I managed to make the final.”
On how much that one-hundredth means:
“I haven't seen the race back yet but a lot of people will watch this and think it was all on the day but that one-hundredth of a second is hours and hours of training sessions, doing the right things and eating the right things.
I'm really proud of myself for the journey I've been on. It's almost sweeter that I only made the final by one hundredth because it just shows that I've really had to work for this.”
On making his Paralympic debut:
“It's been a long time to wait for this moment. When I walked out I nearly got a bit emotional when I heard how loud the stadium was. From me being 16 years old and watching 2012 and now 12 years on seeing a packed out stadium and being a part of it is really special.”
On his expectations for the final:
“It's going to be more difficult this time obviously, at the Paralympics every athlete comes here in the best shape of their life. So, I'm just looking forward to it.”
Eden Rainbow-Cooper
Result: Fifth in heat 1 of the women’s T54 5000m in 12:23.53, qualified for the final
Age: 23
Hometown: Waterlooville
On the race:
“I'm really happy, for me it was always to get the first race out of the way and I can call myself a Paralympian. It's really nice to have gone out there and I'm over the moon.”
On her race strategy:
“All of the girls in that heat, bar Suzanna who is the world record holder, were really close on times so we knew it would be a super difficult race.
“I don't have the same acceleration at the end as some of the other girls so I had a bold tactic to go out hard for a couple of laps and see if a gap opened which it didn't and then they all shot past me.
“It took enough out of the girls that it gave me a better chance so I'm pretty happy with how I executed it.”
On her Paralympics debut:
“It's 11 years of hard work and it's all so worth it. I've never raced in such a packed stadium and I've never heard so many people scream my name or just even the noise. It was incredible and it really helped when the pain kicked in on lap eight and nine.”
On building confidence ahead of the marathon:
“The track isn't my main event and I'm trying to improve on it. Any race that I get to do on the track, especially against such incredibly fast athletes is huge for me and I get a lot of experience from it. But I feel good, the 5k final is tomorrow and we will see what happens with that and building into the marathon.”
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