A roar of delight at the end of a closely contested 800m illustrated just how much it means to win a Welsh athletics title. As the 105th edition of the Welsh Athletics Championships neared its finale, Ben Reynolds made his move as he entered the home straight of the men’s two-lap final.

Wales’ javelin thrower Hollie Arnold insisted she had no regrets about her appearance on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! after being disappointed with Paralympic bronze as she relinquished her crown in Tokyo. Defending champion Arnold set a Games record of 43.01m in storming to gold in Rio but was unable to replicate that performance on a soggy night in the Japanese capital. The four-time 27-year-old world champion’s effort of 39.73m was only good enough for the final place on the podium on a day which yielded six GB athletics medals at the Olympic Stadium including golds for Owen Miller and Jonathan Broom-Edwards.

Olivia Breen will be the first of Wales’ magnificent seven track and field stars to compete when the athletics schedule gets underway at the Tokyo Paralympics. The sprinter will take to the blocks in the early hours of Saturday morning when she lines up for the women’s T38 100m. The heats start at 2:38am UK time and should Breen qualify, she would line up for the final at a minute after noon the same day.

Three Welsh athletes have been named in the first group selected to represent Great Britain at the rescheduled 2020 Paralympics this summer. Reigning champions Hollie Arnold and Aled Davies are joined by Sabrina Fortune in the first wave of selections for Tokyo. Arnold, who won Commonwealth Games gold for Wales in 2018, will be looking to defend the title she won five years ago in Rio in the women’s F46 javelin.

Hollie Arnold reckons she is going to become “hangry” on “I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here” but insists it will be worth the meagre rations if she inspires others. Wales’ Para world champion and Paralympic champion has admitted going without will rest her patience while she is on the ITV show. Arnold – who defended her javelin world Para title in Dubai last year and has been preparing for the delayed Tokyo Paralympics – has accepted an invite to take part in this year’s show which is being staged at Gwrych Castle in north Wales, rather than the usual Australian jungle location.

A teenage race-walker is organising his own para athletics meeting in Cardiff to give fellow disability athletes the opportunity to compete against each other. Daniel McKerlich, who competes in the T20 category for people with learning difficulties, has spotted a need for a competition in Wales exclusively for disabled athletes. The 19-year-old hopes his Para Athletics Event 2020 will attract some of Britain’s top para athletes as they prepare for the Tokyo Paralympics and go in search of qualifying standards.

Six Welsh para athletes have been named as part of British Athletics World Class Programme for 2020. Hollie Arnold, Olivia Breen, Aled Davies, Sabrina Fortune, Kyron Duke and Harri Jenkins all returned from last year’s World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai with medals. They are joined by 22 other athletes, including Hannah Cockroft and Jonnie Peacock, to be named as part of the Paralympic Podium group.

Some don’t like it hot. Hollie Arnold – Wales’ world champion javelin thrower – is one of them. But as she prepares for a hot, sticky Tokyo in August and the Paralympic Games, she tells Graham Thomas how she is preparing to stay cool under pressure. Hollie Arnold will be turning up the heat on herself in 2020 as she prepares for this year’s high temperature mark on her schedule – August’s Paralympic Games in Tokyo. The world champion javelin thrower – who broke the world record to claim gold for Wales at the Commonwealth Para Games in 2018 – is determined to defend the Paralympic title she won in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Hollie Arnold celebrated her fourth consecutive World Para Athletics title on Monday, but instantly turned her attention to re-claiming her world record at next year’s Paralympics in Tokyo. The Loughborough-based athlete set a new personal best on her way to the F46 title in Dubai, but fell short of regaining the world record she broke to claim gold for Wales at the Commonwealth Games in Australia, last year. Having pouched her fourth world title, Arnold’s focus is now on Paralympic gold and the world record she lost to New Zealand’s Holly Robinson in April.

Nowhere does Wales’ sporting claim to punch above its weight appear more justified than in Para Athletics. A total of seven Welsh athletes will be wearing Great Britain colours in Dubai when the World Para Athletics Championships starts in Dubai on Thursday. Owen Morgan spoke to one of them. Three reigning world champions boasting 15 global gold medals between them will lead a seven-strong contingent of Welsh athletes at this month’s World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai. Aled Davies, Hollie Arnold and Olivia Breen will be joined in the Great Britain team by WPA European Champions Sabrina Fortune and Harri Jenkins, along with Disability Sport Wales Para Academy athletes Kyron Duke and Jordan Howe.

As the months tick down to less than one year to go to next year’s Paralympics, Graham Thomas looks at the Welsh athletes who have already booked their places – and those striving to join them. Jim Roberts is rarely slow off the mark as one of the UK’s leading wheelchair rugby players and he has got there ahead of the rest when it comes to next year’s Paralympics. Welshpool-born Roberts became the first Welsh athlete to book his place for Tokyo next year as the countdown begins to the Games which are now just less than a year away.

By Owen Morgan Current World Champions Aled Davies, Hollie Arnold and Olivia Breen will lead a seven-strong Welsh contingent heading to the World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai. Wales’ golden trio will be joined – on November 7 to 15 – by WPA European Champions Sabrina Fortune and Harri Jenkins, along with Disability Sport Wales […]