Weir's final burst seals golden hat-trick

Britain's David Weir made it a hat-trick of gold medals at the IPC Athletics World Championships in New Zealand yesterday with victory in the T54 5,000 metres. The 31-year-old added to his successes in the 1500m and the 800m earlier this week in Christchurch, finishing ahead of the world record-holder, Marcel Hug of Switzerland.

Weir stayed towards the back of the field for much of the race before taking up a position on the outside at the bell and blitzing his rivals with a final lap of 44.12sec. He later admitted his tactics had been simply to rely on his speed, saying: "After the 800m I knew I had the speed so I didn't come into this one with much of a plan. I just wanted to stay out of trouble and use my pace, I knew they wouldn't be able to match me. To win three gold medals is a dream. I've trained well out here and it's all come together."

There were also two bronze medals for Britain yesterday, for world junior champion Aled Davies in the F42 discus and Ben Rushgrove in the T36 200m. Davies, 19, built on his fourth place in the shot put and earned praise from gold medallist Fanie Lombaard of South Africa, who said: "That kid has got a huge future."

Rushgrove, meanwhile, picked up his second medal of the championships behind Roman Pavlyk and So Wa Wai, with fellow Briton Graeme Ballard in fifth. "I went out for gold, but the best man won on the day," he said.