Albury's Eliza Ault-Connell snares fourth in 100m T54 heat at Paralympics

Ault-Connell posted just outside her personal best in clocking 16.79 seconds in the first of two heats.

China's Zhou Zhaogian won the heat in 15.80 seconds.

The border-based competitor finished fourth, with the first three from the two races moving through to the final, with the next two fastest also advancing.

Ault-Connell, who lost her legs to meningococcal disease, posted the seventh quickest time overall.

The sprint is certainly not her favourite event with the 400m on Thursday, followed by Sunday's marathon.

It's the 39-year-old's first appearance at the Games since Athens in 2004 after taking more than a decade away from elite level sport to have her three children.

When selected for the team, Ault-Connell had considered taking on a bumper schedule of her current events, as well as the 800m, 1500m and 5000m.

But in a recent interview with The Border Mail, Ault-Connell said the 12-month long postponement due to COVID had made her a "little bit wiser".

"I decided to really focus on allowing the body to recover a bit more before each event and come out nice and strong," she said.

ALSO IN SPORT

"The 100m and 400m are back-to-back on consecutive days, but there's a nice break before the marathon."

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