Kyron Duke ‘ecstatic’ after smashing personal best at Paralympics (From Free Press Series)

Kyron Duke ‘ecstatic’ after smashing personal best at Paralympics

2:00pm Thursday 13th September 2012 in Sport

CWMBRAN’S Kyron Duke hailed the incredible support of the home crowd as he broke his personal best to finish fifth in the Olympic Stadium.

The 19-year-old previously competed for Wales in powerlifting at the 2010 Commonwealth Games but that didn’t prepare him for the London experience.

Duke couldn’t believe the noise fromthe patriotic supporters as he just missed out on a medal in the F40 shot putt final at his first Paralympics.

The athlete, who has achondroplasia, finished fifth after setting a new personal best with a throw of 11.24m in his sixth and final attempt. “It was immense.

I’m ecstatic, buzzing. It was crazy to compete in front of 80,000 people, something that I’ll never forget,” he said.

“It’s so uplifting and it pushes you on to do more.

My mum, sister, brother-inlaw and lots of others are here and that’s awesome too.

“I talked to some of the other guys who’d already been out there and the crowd gives you so much adrenalin it’s unbelievable.”

Meanwhile in the javelin contest Duke admitted he’d been blown out of the water in the F40 event after missing out on a medal and finishing eighth in a final that required the record books to be rewritten four times.

Duke had hopes of a podium place in his main event and stoked his ambitions by setting a lifetime best of 38.64m in the opening round but ultimately that was as good as it got for the Welshman as three different competitors broke the world record before China’s Zhiming Wang emphatically extended the originalmarkby over seven metres to take gold with 47.95m.