Blake claims fourth world title

Paul Blake now has four world titles to his name

Paul Blake claimed the fourth world title of his career as he took gold in the T36 800 metres at the World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai.

The 29-year-old Paralympic 400m champion recorded a season’s best time of 2:07.44 to finish more than eight seconds clear of silver medallist Sid Ali Bouzourine of Algeria.

Victory marked Blake’s third world success at the longer distance in his career, after previous triumphs in Lyon and Doha in 2013 and 2015 respectively.

Blake said: “To be honest, I think this is the best one.

“The way the last two years have panned out, this is really special. To execute the race exactly as I wanted to and to win the gold, I’m really pleased with myself.”

Defending T53 100m champion Sammi Kinghorn won her opening heat in a season’s best time of 16.39 seconds.