WHEELCHAIR athlete Brian Alldis faces a nervous wait to see if he is selected for the Great Britain Paralympic team after achieving the qualifying time for the 5000m.
WHEELCHAIR athlete Brian Alldis faces a nervous wait to see if he is selected for the Great Britain Paralympic team after achieving the qualifying time for the 5000m.
The 21-year-old has been battling hard all year to reach the qualifying time in any of the 800m, 1500m or 5000m events to give him a chance of travelling to Beijing later this year.
Having fallen short of the required 5000m time by just 0.6 seconds in an American race in March, Alldis recorded a personal best time of 10m 15s in Switzerland last week to finish five seconds inside the qualifying standard.
The Bury St Edmunds resident said: “I've got a two-week wait now to see if I have been selected as one of the squad of 36.
“If I make it to Beijing it will be for experience more than anything else. My main aim has always been to make London 2012.”
Alldis, who suffers from spina bifida, first took up the sport five years ago and rapidly improved under the coaching of Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson after he met her at an event three years ago.
Paying tribute to the 11-times gold Paralympian, who held over 30 world records and won the London Marathon six times, Alldis said: “My performances just keep improving with Tanni. I have learnt so much from her, both tactically and mentally.”
Alldis won the Nationwide Building Society Disability Sports Person award for the Eastern Region in 2006 and has competed in the London Marathon.
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