Four silvers for wheelchair racer Will
Wheelchair racer Will Smith has won four silver medals for Great Britain at the IWAS world junior championships in Olomouc, Czech Republic.
At his first world junior championships, the 14-year-old from Westfield, near Dereham, was in the under-16 age group.
His first event, the 100m, was held in blazing hot conditions. The German athlete David Scherer made an excellent start to take the lead in the early stages with Will racing neck and neck with the Australian Declan Young.
In the second half of the race Will broke clear of Young but was unable to catch Scherer and had to settle for the silver medal in a time of 17.92 seconds.
The following day the Northgate High School pupil was faced with two events, the 200m and 800m, with temperatures approaching 35c.
The races were again dominated by the same three athletes with Scherer proving too strong in the 200m who closed down Will in the late stages of the race to win in a time 30.46 seconds with Will just behind in a time of 31.14 seconds to take a second silver.
In the 800m Will made the decision to take the lead early and set a fast pace in an attempt to take the sprint finish out of the strong German athlete.
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Moving into the final 100m of the race Will still held a narrow lead but had been unable to shake off Scherer who moved level with Will with 30m to go and, despite a brave final effort from Will, eased ahead in the final 10m to win by just 0.4 seconds in a time of 2:00.7.
Will's final event, the 400m, was held the next day with all the athletes grateful for cooler conditions following early-morning rain.
Scherer was again a firm favourite but Will was determined to push him all the way and again set a hot early pace trying to unsettle the German.
However in a repeat of the earlier races he unable to hold on to the lead and the powerful Scherer pipped Will for the gold medal over the final 20m of the race despite Will setting a new personal best time of 57.74 seconds.
The Australian Young again finished in the bronze medal position.
So Will brought home four silver medals for Great Britain at his first world junior championships and helped the GB team secure an impressive haul of medals.
