LONDON: Australia's Scott Reardon and James Turner have both won gold at the World Paralympic Athletics Championships in London.
Reardon, a single leg above knee amputee, won the T42 100m on Monday in a time of 11.21 seconds from Daniel Wagner of Denmark (12.30) and Britain's Richard Whitehead (12.39).
"I came here with a plan to execute the first 20m of the race and put a bit of pressure on the rest of the guys," Reardon said.
"I think there's a thought that I can't run very fast because of my little legs, but when I execute a race well and I'm out in front, I'm tough to catch. I did that well, and that's what matters most at a championship like this."
Scott Reardon wins the Men's 100m T42 final ahead of Daniel Wagner of Denmark.Credit: Getty Images
Turner won his event, the T36 200m in a world record time of 24.09 seconds.
The 21-year-old finished close to an entire second ahead of silver medallist Kryzsztof Ciuksza from Poland, to win his maiden world title.
"It's absolutely amazing to win my first world title, but to be honest I didn't think it'd be in the 200m," Turner said.
Reardon has lobbied for double above knee amputees to compete separately due to the circular motion of their running style and it's a move that has angered Whitehead.
James Turner won his first world title.Credit: Getty Images
"I will only have a 200 metres to run in Tokyo, which is ridiculous," Whitehead said.
"We want the 100 and 200m in Tokyo. The IPC need to (include), not take it out of the program, they need to talk to us and understand why.
Truthful, not bitter: Richard Whitehead.Credit: PA
"Scott Reardon is a great athlete, but as a person he's someone that wants to provide himself with the best opportunity of success, not to compete. That's not me saying it bitterly, that's me saying it truthfully.
"I've seen emails from Scott and the Australian authorities that have looked at the reason why we shouldn't be involved and that is for 'danger' reasons, which is ridiculous."
Erin Cleaver also took silver for Australian in the T38 women's long jump, while Madison de Rozario won bronze in the women's T54 1500m.
PA