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- Harri Hurries To Bronze . . . But Is Desperate To Taste Gold
Harri Jenkins marked his first ever World Para Athletics Championships by winning a brilliant bronze medal in Dubai on Sunday night in the T33 100m final.
The Neath speedster clocked a time of 18.98 to finish third behind fellow Great Britain athlete Andrew Small who pipped him to the silver medal.
For Jenkins, the reigning European champion, it was a breakthrough performance on the global stage. The gold went to Ahmad Almutairi, of Kuwait.
While pleased to get the bronze medal, the Disability Sport Wales Para Academy athlete has even higher ambitions.
Commenting afterwards, he said: “It was really good. Obviously, I’m happy with the bronze.
“But as I said before, it was going on form – I was going in third ranked in the race but I just know I’m capable of so much more.
“I know I can do this, I know I can get there. I should be pushing with them guys, they shouldn’t be beating me like that but I’ll get there next year, I’ll get there.
“It sounds really bad, but I don’t want to win bronze medals. I don’t want to be satisfied with winning bronze medals, I want to be winning gold and I know I am capable of doing it. It is just getting it out. But we’ll get there.”
Looking back at the technicalities of the race, the former Great Britain basketball international said: “I got out really well, but the middle section wasn’t as good and I need to go back and look at that top end speed – I need to work on that for next season.
“If you’d have offered me this (bronze) before the race I’d have been like ‘yeah’ so this is why I didn’t really know. I know what I’m capable of doing and that wasn’t that.”
Small, who went one better than his World Championship bronze in London, paid tribute to his team mate Jenkins.
“I’m so glad for Harri, his first Games, his first medal, he must be chuffed to bits. And it just shows solidarity and especially within the country it’s really challenging, and we’ll see if we can push that more next year.”
Monday’s action from Dubai sees Wales’ Hollie Arnold launch her attempt to win a fourth consecutive world title in the F46 javelin final which takes place at 14:00 UK time.
