Hollie Arnold put in the performance of a lifetime on Tuesday September 13 as she won gold – and set two new world records in the process – in the F46 javelin event at the Rio Paralympics.
Hollie lives in Hengoed, studies at Coleg y Cymoedd in Ystrad Mynach, and was competing in her third Paralympic Games, having been selected as the youngest member of Team GB at the 2008 Beijing Games, aged just 14.
The 22-year-old threw a personal best 41.10 metres in the first round of the F46 javelin event, and followed it up with a world record distance of 41.68m.
Two shorter throws in rounds three and four were quickly forgotten as Hollie secured the gold medal spot with her second world record of the day, throwing a massive 43.01m, and blowing her previous effort out of the water.
Hollie won gold ahead of New Zealand’s Holly Robinson in silver, who threw 41.22m, and Poland’s bronze medallist Katarzyna Piekart at 41.07m.