Sammi Kinghorn insists she has proved she belongs on the global stage after wrapping up Great Britain’s World Para Athletics Championships campaign.
The 21-year-old finished fifth in the T53 800 metres, but still claimed two golds and one bronze medal in a breakthrough summer.
Kinghorn won the T53 100m on the final morning on Sunday to add to her 200m title from earlier in the week, while also claimed bronze in the 400m.
Great Britain finished third in the medal table with 39 – comfortably beating their 26-30 target – and Kinghorn, who won her first world gold medals, said she has shown she can cope at this level.
The three-time European champion said: “Going out to Rio and being so young and nervous and naive and scared, I’ve learnt I’m good enough to be there.
“I need to remember that. I used to go out and think, ‘These girls, I watched them on the telly, they’re absolutely amazing’. Now I know I can compete them and beat them.
“Hopefully one day I can be unbeatable. It’s tough, in para sport, someone can come in after an accident and rise pretty quick. You don’t know. That’s the excitement in para sport, you don’t know who will come in. You want people chasing you and that excitement.
“I feel like I’m never going to sleep again. This week has been incredible.
“I’d love to be as good as Tatyana McFadden (America’s seven-time Paralympic champion) and compete against every distance and smash them all.
“I’d love to be the first T53 to go under 16 seconds so that’s my aim between now and Tokyo (2020 Paralympics). I hoped I’d win one medal, but to win three – two gold and one bronze – has been incredible. My class is so competitive and it’s going to take a month to sink in.”
Earlier in the day Mickey Bushell claimed silver in the T53 100m, falling just short of repeating his success from London 2012, in 14.85 seconds. Bushell’s second place comes after disappointment at last year’s Rio Paralympics when he could only finish sixth in his title defence.
“I’ve gone from sixth in Rio to second here. What a city to do it in as well, in front of a home crowd,” he said.
“I’ve just trained, kept my head down and trained hard. This year I’ve had no heath issues and this is what happens when I’m not ill. I’m back up there with the best again.”
Long jumper Polly Maton grabbed T47 silver with her final jump to leap from fourth to second with a lifetime best of 5.23m. The 17-year-old arm amputee had already finished fifth in the 100m.
She said: “To come and hear a crowd roar for you, and to come and perform, it really is a dream come true.
“I cannot put in words quite how much it means to me to come out and do it in front of all my family, all my friends, and see everyone there cheering me on.”
Jordan Howe also claimed silver in the T35 100m on the final morning with a personal best of 12.52s.
He said: “It was a PB and a silver medal so it is great. I knew it was not going to be easy to race these boys as they are the fastest in the world. It was my time to show off and I did.
“I expect more medals in the future. I was the one to progress now and hopefully in Tokyo I would be the one to take that gold.”
