Personal information | |
---|---|
Born | East Dulwich, London, England | 6 July 1992
Alma mater | University of Greenwich |
Sport | |
Sport | Sprinting |
Disability class | T20 |
Event(s) | 200m, 400m |
Achievements and titles | |
Paralympic finals | 2020 |
Regional finals | 2021 |
Medal record |
Columba Blango (born 6 July 1992) is a British parasports runner, who came third at the 400 metres T20 event at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. He won the 400 metres T20 event at the 2021 World Para Athletics European Championships, and the 200 metres T20 event at the 2021 British Grand Prix.
Blango is from East Dulwich, London. [1] His father of the same name competed for Sierra Leone in decathlon at the 1980 Summer Olympics, and was later Mayor of Southwark. [2] [3] As a youngster, Blango developed blood clots on his brain. [2] Blango studied tourism at the University of Greenwich, and as of 2021, he works in Primark. [2] Blango is a Christian, and attends a Mustard Seed International church in Nunhead, London. [4]
Blango competes in T20 classification events. [2] He won the 200 metres T20 event at the 2021 British Grand Prix Diamond League meeting in Gateshead in a time of 23.19 seconds. [5] At the 2021 World Para Athletics European Championships, Blango won the 400 metres T20 event in a European record time of 47.90 seconds. [6] He had also broken the European record in the heats of the event by setting a time of 48.54 seconds. [7]
In July 2021, Blango was selected for the 400 metres T20 event at the 2020 Summer Paralympics; [8] it was his first Paralympic Games appearance. [1] He finished third in the competition in a personal best time of 47.81 seconds. [2] [3] He was 0.1 seconds behind second-placed finisher Luis Felipe Rodriguez Bolivar, [1] and his time was better than his father's time in the 400 metres event of the 1980 decathlon. [2] As a result of his Paralympic medal, UK Athletics gave Blango funding for the first time in October 2021. He received the highest amount of funding available on their scheme. [9] In 2022, Blango won the T20 400m event at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix event in Dubai. [10]
William "Will" Sharman is a British athlete who specialises in the 110 metres hurdles. He started his career as a junior high jumper and decathlete, but focused entirely on hurdling after a shoulder injury. He made his international debut for Great Britain at the 2006 European Athletics Championships and went on to compete at the 2007 Summer Universiade. Sharman came to prominence in 2009, after he significantly improved upon his previous personal best and finished fourth in the 110 metres hurdles final at the 2009 World Championships. This would be the first of three consecutive appearances in the World Championship final, he's since finished fifth in both the 2011 and 2013 finals.
Rheed McCracken is an Australian Paralympic athletics competitor. He named the 2012 Junior Athlete of the Year as part of the Australian Paralympian of the Year Awards. He represented Australia at the 2012 London Paralympics, 2016 Rio Paralympics and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, where he won three silver and two bronze medals.
Stephanie Schweitzer is an Australian athletics competitor. She was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in athletics but did not medal.
Hannah Lucy Cockroft is a British wheelchair racer specialising in sprint distances in the T34 classification. She holds the world records for the 100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres, 800 metres and 1500 metres in her classification and the Paralympic records at 100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres and 800 metres. Competing for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, she won two gold medals. She won three further gold medals at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Karsten Warholm is a Norwegian sprinter who competes in the 400 metres and 400 m hurdles. He is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion, a three-time world champion and the world record holder in the latter event.
Geraldina "Dina" Rachel Asher-Smith, OLY is a British sprinter internationally active since 2011. In 2019 she was the first British woman to win a World title in a sprint event.
Laura Muir is a Scottish middle- and long-distance runner. She is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medallist in the 1500 metres, having previously finished seventh in the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Muir won the bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships, and has three other top five placings in 1500 m finals at the World Athletics Championships, finishing fifth in 2015, fourth in 2017 and fifth in 2019. She is a two-time European 1500 m champion from 2018 and 2022 as well as the 2022 Commonwealth Games 1500 m champion and 800 metres bronze medallist.
Stephenie Ann McPherson is a Jamaican track and field athlete, who specializes in the 400 metres. She has won a bronze medal in the event at the 2013 World Championships, and then placed in the finals of both the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and all four following World Championships between 2015 and 2022, consecutively. McPherson earned also a bronze at the 2022 World Indoor Championships. She added medals in the 4 x 400 metres relays, taking a silver at the 2016 Olympics, a gold in 2015 in Beijing, and a bronze in 2019.
Zachary "Zac" Shaw is a British visually impaired sprinter who competes in the T12 and T13 disability classifications. At the age of nine he became afflicted with stargardt disease. In 2013 he started training for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro but was ultimately unsuccessful. In 2014 Shaw won silver in both 100 metres and 200 metres at the UK School Games. In 2015 he made his international debut in the Berlin IPC Grand Prix where he won bronze.
Karé Adenegan is a British wheelchair athlete specialising in sprint distances in the T34 classification. She was classified as a disability athlete in 2013.
Ben Rowlings is a British Paralympic athlete who competes in sprint and middle-distance events in the T34 classification.
Stephen "Steve" Morris is a paralympic athlete from Cardiff, Wales. He competes in middle distance events in the T20 classification and represented Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.
Cape Verde sent a delegation to compete at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. This was the nations' fourth appearance at a Summer Paralympic Games since it made its debut at the 2004 Athens Summer Paralympics. Cape Verde was represented by two athletes in Rio de Janeiro: sprinter Gracelino Barbosa and javelin thrower Márcio Fernandes, who qualified for the Games by meeting the qualification standards of their events. Barbosa won the country's first Paralympic medal with his third-place finish in the men's 400 metres T20 competition and Fernandes came ninth in the F44 men's javelin event.
Hamide Kurt Doğangün is a Turkish Paralympian athlete competing in the T53 disability class sprint events of 100m and 400m, T52/T53 class middle-distance event of 800m as well as T53/T54 class 4 × 400 m relay event.
Columba Blango is a Sierra Leonean–British politician and former athlete. He competed in the men's decathlon at the 1980 Summer Olympics.
Edmilsa Governo is a Mozambican athlete, who won a bronze medal in the women's 400 metres T12 event at the 2016 Summer Paralympics. She also won a gold medal in the 200 metres T12 event at the 2015 African Games, and a bronze medal in the 400 metres T12 event at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships.
The 2021 British Grand Prix, officially the 2021 Müller Grand Prix Gateshead because of title sponsor Müller, was the 2021 edition of the annual outdoor track and field meeting in Gateshead, England. Held on 23 May at the Gateshead International Stadium, it was the first leg of the 2021 Diamond League – the highest level international track and field circuit. It was the first time the meeting was held in Gateshead instead of Birmingham since 2010, replacing the Rabat Diamond League which was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fleur Jong is a Dutch Paralympic athlete. She won the gold medal in the women's long jump T64 event at the 2020 Summer Paralympics held in Tokyo, Japan. She also set a new world record of 6.16 metres. As of September 2023, her current world record in this event is 6.74 metres.
Nathan Maguire is a British wheelchair racer. He won multiple medals at both the 2018 and 2021 World Para Athletics European Championships, and also won the 400 metres mixed class race at multiple British Athletics Championships. Maguire competed in the 4 × 400 metres relay T53/T54 at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, and competed in the 400 metres T54, 800 metres T54 and mixed 4 × 100 metres relay events at the delayed 2020 Summer Paralympics. He was part of the British team that won a silver medal in the 2020 Paralympic mixed 4 × 100 metres relay. He also competed for England at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and won the 1500 metres T54 event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Jardênia Félix Barbosa da Silva, commonly known as Jardênia Félix, is a Brazilian Paralympic athlete who competes in T20 events. She is a silver medalist at the World Para Athletics Junior Championships, a two-time INAS Global Games bronze medalist and a Paralympic bronze medalist.