The final day of track and field action in the Central American Stadium at the 9th IWAS World Junior Games in Puerto Rico continued with some top athletics Tuesday evening in the city of Mayaguez.

One of the most anticipated races of the evening was the Men’s T33-T54 400m race but this was disrupted when one of the favourites Sweden’s Niklas Almers crashed.  Almers aged 21 who was competing in his 6th World Junior Games said “I had a really good start, accelerated well then I hit the compensator and then went sideways and flipped over. It’s the first time in competitive racing that I’ve crashed."  Henry Manni of Finland won the Gold medal.

Niklas competed in London and recently in Lyon. He told me "That the experience I have gained from previous IWAS World Junior Games has proved invaluable in my career so far. The 200 and 400 events are my favourites and I take inspiration from fellow athletes Kenny Van Weeghal, Leo Pekka Tahti and Dave Weir. My ambition is to win a Paralympic medal one year"

Although heavy rain midway through the evening delayed the action for a while there were a further 4 IWAS World Junior and 1 IPC European Record set Tuesday evening. 

In the field events the Junior World Records were set by the Bulgarian athletes Mihail Hristove in the long jump and Ruzhdi Ruzhdi in the Javelin. German athlete Leon Schafer in the high jump and Felix Strong 400m completed the JWR’s.

This brings a total to an impressive 10 IWAS World Junior Record, 5 IPC European and 2 Americas Records set over the three days of athletics competition.

Tony Garrett IWAS Reporter

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With the 2016 Paralympic Games in Brazil fast approaching these World Junior Games will help promote Paralympic sport in Central America and the Caribbean and with the theme of the Games slogan “Inspire, Excel and Succeed” the Championships is a valuable event in the Paralympic calendar to help develop young athletes from grass roots through to the elite level of sport.

The city of Mayaguez is the third largest city in Puerto Rico and is located in the West coast of the Island.