MFON PATRICK
Akwa Ibom para-athlete, Ability Udoh shone like a million stars in Morocco and was the toast of the tournament after her spectacular performances won her two gold and two silver medals at the 2023 Para-Athletics championships.
Ability ran the best time to win gold medals in 100m and 200m T46 categories but finished second and captured silver medals in 400m and Long Jump events respectively.
Ability stormed to victory in the 100m ahead of Kenya’s Stency Obonyo and Kadiatou Bangoura of Guinea.
She continued her fine performance in 200m beating Stency Obonyo of Kenya and Mendy Francois-Elie of France to win her second gold medal at the championship.
Guinea’s Kadiatou Bangura ran a time of 1:02 seconds to win the gold medal in the female 400m event beating Ability Udoh by just 3 seconds. The Akwa Ibom youngster came second with Silver medal after finishing in time of 1:05 seconds while Laure Ustaritz of France came third and won bronze after running 1:11 seconds.
In the Long Jump event, Ability achieved a milestone, setting her Personal Best jump this season with a leap of 4.8 metres to clinch the silver medal in an event in which Mandy Francois-Elie of France won the gold medal while Ana Filipe of Portugal finished third and won the bronze medal.
With her brilliant outing in Morocco, Ability has met the minimum qualification requirements for next year’s Paralympic games billed to take place in France.
The athlete is expected back in the country later this week.
