By Nick Butler at the Olympic Stadium in London

oliveira horizontalJuly 28 - Brazilian sprinter Alan Oliveira produced the performance of the weekend to upset home favourite Jonnie Peacock, as well as American star Richard Browne, and bring the curtain down in style on the Sainsbury's Anniversary Games with a stunning 100 metres T43/44 victory.

Oliveira had caused one of the biggest upsets in Paralympics history when he beat South Africa's Oscar Pistorius to win the 400m here at London 2012 - a victory that led to his beaten rival accusing him of using blades that were longer than permitted.

But he had finished only seventh in the 100m.

Today, though, never looked threatened after a sensational start to clock 10.57sec to take a huge two tenths of a second off his own record mark and continue the form he showed in winning a hat-trick of gold medals at last week's IPC World Championships in Lyon.

"I can't express how happy I am," said Oliveira, who seems set to be the poster boy for the Rio 2016 Paralympics. 

"Richard Browne and Jonnie are very fast, I know that.

"I just wanted to run for 10 seconds and that's what I did."

Behind him Browne set a world record of his own with a T44 class best of 10.75, while despite beating Browne in Lyon, Peacock had to be satisfied with a British record 10.85 for third place after being roared on by an ecstatic 60,000 strong crowd.

Peacock had created one of the moments of last year's Games when, as he lined up for the 100m final, he had put his finger to his lips to silence the 80,000 crowd chanting his name.

He remained in good spirits even after this defeat and it did not appear to lessen the affection the fans feel for him. 

"Sorry I couldn't do it for you today," he told the spectators to huge cheers. 

"These guys are putting it on this year, last year you could make mistakes but not this year.

"I just can't wait to start competing against them on a regular basis so I can push myself more."

Oliveira browne peacock line shotAlan Oliveira holds off rivals Richard Browne and Jonnie Peacock to break the world record to win a thrilling 100m T43/44 in what was surely the defining race of the whole weekend.






Britain had plenty to celebrate elsewhere, though, as David Weir returned to the track where he won three Paralympic gold medals before adding a fourth in the marathon to break the world record and win the rarely contested T54 one mile by ten seconds in the final event of the day - one of seven home victories during the afternoon.

After his victory in 3min 16.40sec, though, 34-year-old refused to comment on whether he planned to defend his Paralympic titles at Rio 2016.

First he batted back the question by saying he planned to "spend the next two weeks drinking on beer on a beach in the south of France" but revealing that he would not make a decision about his long-term future until after next year's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. 

The packed crowd was a testament to how established the Paralympic events have now become, and when 20 of Team GB's London medalists – including Para-Dressage star Sophie Christiansen - were introduced to the crowd before the first event the cheers were almost as loud as they had been for Bolt and Farah earlier in the weekend.

weir winningDavid Weir on way to a winning return to the track where he won four Paralympic gold medals




Weir got one of the loudest cheers when enjoying a regulation victory by over ten seconds despite missing last week's World Championships, yet the athlete known as the "Weir-Wolf" was far from overjoyed after his performance.

"I wish I was a little bit quicker, I've been a lot quicker in training so that's disappointing", he said.

"It's unbelievable to be back in this stadium with my family and friends so it was a good race", he added.

The introduction of a medal rostrum for the podium finishers was a further way to excite the the crowd as was the weather, which stayed largely dry despite some chills unfamiliar to those who have spent the last month on British shores.

It was certainly much cooler than the temperatures in Lyon over the last week and with the track and field evetns at the World Championships finishing only last night, the timing of the event was hardly ideal for the athletes.

Yet with Lyon only holding 3,000 spectators they were not going to turn down a chance to compete in front of more than twenty times that number in London.

richard whitehead over came a customary slow startRichard Whitehead over came a customary slow start to win the 200m T42 and continue his Olympic Stadium winning record


Richard Whitehead is one British star who is always at his best in London, and the 37-year-old could give even Usain Bolt a lesson in how to recover from a slow start, to power home in the 200m T42 in 24.86, his special gold blades whirring as he came through from last to first, just as he had last year to win the Paralympics.

Appropriately, he reprised his winning celebration from London 2012 too as he crossed the line - flexing his biceps and pointing at the crowd.

Whitehead, who before winning gold last year competed in ice sledge hockey at the 2006 Winter Paralympics in Turin and only turned to sprinting because the marathon in his classification, where he holds the world record, was not part of London 2012, already has his next challenge lined up.

He intends to cover the equivalent of a marathon a day in running from John O'Groats to Land's End for charity.

dan greaves wins discusDan Greaves throwing his way to the first British victory of the day in the discus


Graeme Ballard in the T37, Hannah Cockroft in the T34 and Libby Clegg in the T12 were other British 100m winners, while Dan Greaves and Aled Davies both triumphed in the throwing events.

Greaves secured his first win over American World and Paralympic champion Jeremy Campbell for two years with a best of 57.32 metres in the siscus, while Davies celebrated wildly after setting a Stadium record of 14.31m in the shot put.

One of the most anticipated clashes of the day came in the T36/37 800m where two world champions in Ireland's Michael McKillop, who competes in the T37 category, and Britain's Paul Blake, in the T36, went head-to-head.

McKillop won in 1:58.65 ahead of Australian Brad Scott, while Blake came third in a British record 2:07.63.

There was a third world record, in the T53 100m, for Canadian Brent Lakatos - husband of British long jumper Stef Reid - in a time of 14.34 as he erased the mark of the absent British Paralympic champion Mickey Bushell.

visually imparied womens 100mTerezinha Guilhermina dominated to win the women's 100m T11 for visually impaired athletes


Terezinha Guilhermina - fresh from winning three gold medals in Lyon - was another to impress in the 200m T11 class, finishing in 24.91 over three seconds clear of the rest of the field.

The Brazilian, who is renowned for her brightly coloured blindfolds, skipped onto the podium with her guide post victory and looks set to be one of the big stars at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

Indeed, the day illustrated that Paralympic sport will occupy the limelight just as much as their able-bodied compatriots over the next four years and after three nostalgic days when the Olympics and Paralympics were revisited once again thoughts will already be turning to Rio 2016 and beyond.

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