Paralympics: Sabrina Fortune of Flintshire aiming to follow in footsteps of bronze medallist Bev Jones

Sep 13 2012 by Alec Doyle, Flintshire Chronicle

AS the Paralympics packs up and brings to an end a spectacular summer of sport, one Flintshire athlete is already targeting Rio 2016.

Sabrina Fortune has been working her way up through the junior ranks of British throwing athletes and now she has received confirmation that she will be eligible to compete in the Rio Paralympics.

The 15-year-old Argoed High School pupil has speech dyspraxia, a condition which makes verbal communication difficult.

It has resulted in a mild learning disability that has been officially classified by the Paralympic authorities as an F20 condition, opening the door for the Deeside AAC athlete to qualify for Team GB’s squad in four years time.

And on Sunday at the Colwyn Bay Open, the 15-year-old from Bryn-y-Baal threw a new championship record of 34.18 metres in the discus which makes her the number one discus thrower in her new classification in Britain and puts her in the overall UK top 20 at under 17s level.

“Now it’s flat out work to qualify for Rio,” said mum Paula. “We were waiting for the classification and now we have it we can look at what needs to be done.

“There may be funding that can help Sabrina improve her throwing even more but with all the excitement around Team GB’s performance at this Paralympic Games just gone it is a great time for her to find out she can set her sights on Brazil.

“She’s just really excited about the prospect. She’s been throwing for four years now and she is really keen to compete.”

There is still a long way to go until then however, starting with next year’s World Paralympic Games in France, the first that Sabrina will be able to compete at.

But she will be able to draw on a phenomenal well of experience as she trains with Mancot’s Bev Jones, who won Paralympic bronze at the fourth attempt at London.

“It was great for Bev to get a medal and she is an athlete who Sabrina can learn a lot from,” said Paula. “Not just about throwing, but about performing on the big occasion at international level.”