Peerless Australian wheelchair racer Madison de Rozario has completed a third major championships golden double with a cagey triumph in the women’s T53-54 1500m at the Commonwealth Games.
Five days after opening the athletics program in Birmingham with a dominant win in the marathon, de Rozario showed she was still just as adept on the track.
She went straight to the front in Thursday’s title race, varying the pace and daring her opponents to find a way past.
None of them could.
The 29-year-old clocked a winning time of three minutes 53.03 seconds.
Fellow Australian Angie Ballard stormed home to finish second in 3:53.30 and Scotland’s Samantha Kingshorn was third.
“That was a cagey race and it got a bit tricky towards the end; I’m happy to come away with that one,” said de Rozario, whose focus was primarily on the marathon in the leadup to Birmingham.
“I’ve not done a lot of track work and the track is so technical, you get out of the habits of it.
“I didn’t nail it out there, I made a few mistakes, but it all came together and I was really happy with it.
“It’s a different type of confidence you have to have (racing from the front).
“You can’t second-guess yourself in that moment; if there’s one mistake then it’s all gone.”
De Rozario has now done the 1500m-marathon double at the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games and the 800m-marathon double at last year’s Tokyo Paralympics.
“You try and look at each race in isolation, you can’t let whatever happens before colour it too much,” she said.
“But to get to retain a title is always a privilege.”
Sarah Edmiston was second in the women;s F42-44/61-64 discus with a best throw of 34.96m.
The gold went to Goodness Nwachukwu from Nigeria (36.58m).
The 46-year-old Edmiston won bronze on her Paralympic debut last year in Tokyo.
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