Bushell aims for Palace victory

by Elizabeth Hudson

Bushell won a surprise silver medal in the 100m in Beijing

Top British wheelchair racer Mickey Bushell will hope to continue his superb 2009 with a home victory at Crystal Palace on Sunday

The Beijing silver medallist competes in the London Disability Athletics Challenge with Britain's top disability athletes facing overseas opposition.

The Telford teenager will race in the 100m, 200m and 400m at the event.

Also among those competing are fellow Beijing medallists David Weir, Shelly Woods, Ian Jones and Chris Martin.

"I've never raced at Crystal Palace before so I'm not sure what to expect from the track but I know it is better than the track in Manchester," Bushell told BBC Sport.

"It's always good to compete in front of a home crowd and not have to travel to events and getting international competition is always important."

Bushell, who was born without seven vertebrae in the lower part of his back, competes in the T53 category but in Crystal Palace he will be competing against less disabled athletes from the T54 category.

Breaking the world record wasn't something my coach and I had planned for this year Mickey Bushell

However he remains unconcerned about being at a disadvantage to his rivals.

"Sometimes it is good for me to have athletes to chase down," he admits.

"I know that the likes of Leo Pekka Tahti from Finland have a good start so that will help me."

This year has already been a good one for Bushell with a new world record in the 100m and a clean sweep of golds in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m events at the Under 20 IWAS World Championships in Switzerland.

"I was shocked to have broken the world record. It certainly wasn't something my coach and I had planned this year - we were looking at maybe doing it in the latter part of this year or 2011," he added.

"In the race I made a slow start and I know that is something that I can work on as we work towards the 2011 World Championships and London 2012.

"I wanted to do a personal best this year and get stronger and fitter and I have now achieved all of the targets set by my coach this year.

"Going out to Switzerland I knew I was in good form and I was racing in my own category so I was confident of winning.

"Although the 100m was an easy victory, the hardest race I had was in the 200m because of a strong headwind.

Bushell's four golds helped Great Britain top the medal table with impressive wins also for fellow wheelchair racer Daniel Lucker (U18 100m, 200m, 1500m and 5000m), who will also be in action at Crystal Palace.

In the field, there was success for Vicky Silk (U23 shot and discus), Sean Clare (U20 shot), Nathan Stephens (U23 javelin and shot).

The performances are a huge boost to UK Athletics Paralympic head coach Peter Eriksson, who is looking forward to Sunday's competition.

"I have been amazed by the response both in the UK and internationally to the event," he said.

"We have over 200 competitors from 22 countries which makes it the biggest single Paralympic athletics event in the world this year."