Fearnley wins 12th Paralympic medal in athletics triple-treat

NSWIS legend Kurt Fearnley (pictured left) has rolled his way to the 12th medal of his stunning Paralympic career, winning the bronze in the 5,000m T54 on the track in Rio.

Joining Fearnley as medallists on day 4 at the track and field were fellow NSWIS athletes Taylor Doyle and Angie Ballard.

But it was Fearnley, competing in his fifth Paralympic Games, who was the star of the show for NSWIS, finishing behind Thailand’s Prawat Wahoram and Switzerland’s Marcel Hug.

Fearnley won gold in the same event at the 2004 Athens Games before taking out silver behind Wahoram in Beijing and David Weir in London.

The 35-year-old Australian is also scheduled to compete in the T53/54 1,500m, marathon and 4x400m. Fearnley is a two-time winner of the marathon – in 2004 and 2008 – but finished third at London 2012.

Doyle provided Australia with another long jump top-three finish in Rio, winning silver in the T38 classification with a best leap of 4.62m. Fellow NSWIS jumper Erin Cleaver was fifth in the same final.

Ballard added a second medal to her Rio haul and seventh in total at the Paralympics, with bronze in the women’s T53 400m following her third-place finish in the 100m on Friday.

Fearnley, Ballard and Madison de Roazario will return to the track on day 5 in their respective T54 1500m heats.