Icexpress Progressive Prosthetics

SA Sprinters take Gold & Silver at BT Paralympic World Cup
25 May 2010

Today, during the sixth annual BT Paralympic World Cup staged at the Regional Arena in Manchester, local Paralympic stars; Oscar Pistorius and Arnu Fourie’ took frist and second place respectively in the T44event.

Pistorius finished first, with a time of 11.33 seconds, with Fourie ‘hot on his heels’ with his time of 11.57 seconds. Great Britain’s Ian Jones took the Bronze with a time of 11.90 and USA sprinter, David Prince, came in fourth.
Pistorius and Fourie, together with team-mates Fanie van der Merwe and Fanie Lombaard, are the only South Africans invited to compete at the 2010 World Cup - which was specifically created to provide an annual ‘World Class Multi-Sport Disability Event’ for elite international athletes. It brings together 300 athletes from 30 nations in four sports disciplines, (athletics, swimming, track cycling, & wheelchair basketball), over a week of competition.

This year, participants also have the opportunity to compete in a new team format that sees teams from Great Britain, the Americas, Europe and ‘Rest of the World’ race to win the inaugural overall Competition Trophy.

The two athletes do not only excel at their sport, but also act as industry ambassadors. Fourie is the brand ambassador for Icelandic pioneers Ossur Prosthetics, (as well as a member of local subsidiary Icexpress Progressive Prosthetics), while Pistorius acts as ambassador for BT – the communications service partner for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games – amongst others.

At the 2010 Nedbank National Championships held in Port Elizabeth in March, Fourie actually smashed his own T44record by setting a new SA Record of 11.31 seconds. Even though his achievement today does not reflect his personal best, it is a wonderful improvement on his fourth place finish at last year’s World Cup Event and, with various international challenges scheduled for June this year, he should be in top form for the World Championships scheduled for January 2011 in New Zealand.