25-05-2025
Grimaldi, Robinson selected for world para champs
Anna Grimaldi.
Holly Robinson.
Dunedin Paralympians Anna Grimaldi and Holly Robinson are heading to India.
They have been selected in an eight-strong New Zealand team to compete at the world para athletics championships in New Delhi - the first time the event will be held in India - from September 27 to October 5.
Backing up from her remarkable Paralympic campaign, Grimaldi will stick to the track in the subcontinent, racing in the T47 200m and 100m, the events in which she won gold and bronze respectively in Paris.
Robinson will compete in the F46 shot put in India.
She won bronze in shot put in Paris last year and has since retired from javelin.
The Dunedin pair add significant depth to a team boasting countless Paralympic and world championship medals.
They are joined by Paralympians Will Stedman, competing in the men's T36 100m, 400m and long jump, Danielle Aitchison in the women's T36 100m and 200m, and Mitch Joynt in the men's T64 200m.
It will be a special championships for Joynt, who coaches newcomer Paddy Walsh, who will make her senior international debut in the women's T64 long jump.
Michael Whittaker, a former international fashion model before he was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic disorder leading to progressive vision loss, will also make his international debut.
Whittaker, who took up the sport during Covid lockdown, will compete in the T13 5000m and Sarah James, the team's only wheelchair racer, will make her debut in the women's T53 100m.
