DIAMOND Beach’s James Turner claimed his third gold medal at the World Para Athletic Championships in London with an emphatic victory in the T36 800 metres on Monday morning (Australian time).
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He had earlier won the 200 metres and 400 metres – his 200m success coming in world record time.
Turner’s performances helped push Australia to fifth place overall at the championship. Australia finished with 11 gold, nine silver and eight bronze medals.
He won the 800 metres by almost three seconds ahead of second-placed New Zealander William Stedman.
“I couldn’t have dreamed up a better conclusion to this race and this championships. It’s so uplifting, so invigorating,” Turner said.
“Before the race began I wasn’t sure I had the legs for it after a big few days, but I was comfortable in the race. I let Stedman set the pace because I knew I didn’t have the legs for what I did in Rio.
“We’ve done a lot of training for this, but we’ve been placing a lot of focus on mental resilience, mindfulness and keeping your head on in tough situations which has really helped me, because there have certainly been times where my mental capacity has left me down. My work with Robbo (coach Brett Robinson) has helped me get through tough times, even here in London and because of that, I’ve been able to hit it hard when it counted most.
"We've been placing a lot of focus on mental resilience, mindfulness and keeping your head on in tough situations which has really helped me."
Turner won the 800 metres at last year’s Rio Paralympics.