Aussie Paralympian Jaryd Clifford suffers more medal heartbreak at finish line
Jaryd Clifford is cursing his luck after the heartache of his 5000m disqualification was compounded by the Australian finishing fourth in the 1500m by one-hundredth of a second.
Clifford clocked 3:44.95 on Tuesday in Paris but was edged by Russian runner Anton Kuliatin, who is competing for the Neutral Paralympic team and ran 3:44.94.
The narrow T13 1500m loss came after Clifford thought he had clinched a Paralympic bronze medal three days earlier in the 5000m.
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Clifford had been disqualified because he released the tether linking him to guide Matt Clarke as they crossed the finish line.
“It’s almost so ridiculous that it’s funny,” Clifford said.
“A DQ in the last metre and .01 like, it’s crazy that it’s three years of work, and the last metre of both races can define all of that. It’s pretty brutal.”
Clifford was distraught after his disqualification as Kuliatin was elevated to the bronze medal.
And the Russian was again the man to beat Clifford to the podium, despite the Victorian lunging towards the line in desperation to grab a medal.
“(In the 5000m), I had a brain fade with a metre to go, dropping the tether that was probably the laziest moment of my career,” said Clifford, who doesn’t used a guide in the 1500m.
“I just wanted to run through that line, I wished the dive had been earlier but that’s sport, man … it’s so tough, four years to go back to the drawing board.”
Clifford, who won two silver medals at Tokyo, is desperate to mark his career with a gold.
“I’m still younger than (Yassine) Ouhdadi, the Spaniard when he won his first gold medal and he’s won a bunch now,” Clifford said.
“I’ll be in Brisbane, I’m not even capping it there, I love running so I’m just going to keep going.
“I hope one day I can come in here (and speak to journalists) and be stoked but it’s starting to feel like deja vu a little bit.”
