Francis secures Paralympics track treble

Triple Paralympian Heath Francis has secured his third gold medal of the Beijing Games with a 100m victory he says was helped by "a little bit of luck". Francis, whose dream run in Beijing has included two world record-breaking victories in the 200m and 400m, was never a certainty in the 100m and was stretched as he attempted a golden hat-trick. Francis and Papua New Guinea's silver medallist Francis Kompaon were separated by less than a tenth of a second, leaving both in doubt about who had won at the finish line.

Kompaon looked the victor if his wild celebrations were anything to go by, but the results soon confirmed Francis had a lucky third.
The Papua New Guinean was joyous regardless of the result, having won his country's first ever Paralympic medal. For the record, Francis crossed the line in a personal best time of 11.05 seconds, just ahead of Kompaon in 11.10s and bronze medallist Yohansson Nascimento of Brazil (11.25s). "That one was always going to take a little bit of luck," 26-year-old Francis said after the race. "I thought I won when I crossed the line and then I saw Francis the Papua New Guinean celebrating, and I thought 'did he out-dip me?'

Post-race, Francis spent several moments shaking hands with his rivals, while glancing anxiously at the big screen. "I thought I was in front but you start double guessing when you see someone celebrating like that, but he was celebrating because he got silver.
I can't believe I got three."

Francis, who lost his right arm when it got caught in a meat grinder as a seven-year-old, said he was a marked man ahead of the 100m final, but was trying to play it cool. "My coach was saying, 'These guys, they're worried about you. All you have to do is run your race, the pressure is on them not you.'," he said. "I got out well, and felt myself go past other guys. You have a feeling as an athlete about when you're in front, and I had that feeling."

Francis' success on the track was the lone medal of the day for Australia, with swimming and more athletics finals yet to come at Beijing. The Gliders are on the hunt for a bronze when they come up against Japan in their wheelchair basketball play-off at 2100 AEST, while Australia remain outside favourites in the men's 4x100m medley relay tonight.

Australia have 19 gold, 26 silver and 24 bronze heading into the evening's finals, to sit in fifth position on the overall medal tally.