Blake bags silver
Great Britain's Paul Blake claimed Paralympic silver for Great Britain in the T36 400 metres.
Last Updated: 04/09/12 9:36pm
Great Britain's Paul Blake claimed Paralympic silver for Great Britain in the T36 400 metres at a packed Olympic Stadium.
The 22-year-old son of a Star Wars actor and ballet dancer ran a new personal best of 54.22 seconds to claim the hosts' 14th athletics medal of a prolific Games.
Only a huge world record from Russia's Evgenii Shvetcov denied Blake the title and there was no sign of disappointment for the world champion as he celebrated wildly on crossing the line.
Blake was roared round the track by deafening cheers but there was simply no stopping the imperious Shvetcov, whose time of 53.31secs knocked 0.82s off the previous record. Blake's time was only 0.09s off the old mark.
Blake said: "It was absolutely amazing. The crowd was amazing, my family have been amazing with the support.
"The British public have been amazing on Twitter and Facebook. I soaked up the atmosphere before the race as well. I'm pretty speechless at the moment.
Massive
"(The crowd) is like having an extra pair of legs, it's so uplifting. The roar is massive. I was trying not to get too excited and concentrate on my race.
Elsewhere, David Devine produced a gutsy display to claim bronze for Great Britain in the men's T13 1500m.
The 20-year-old was roared home by a huge crowd in a time of 3 minutes 49.79 seconds, a European record and huge personal best.
He moved up the outside and into the lead at the bell only to be quickly pegged back, but he held his form well and came home strongly, more than two seconds clear of fourth.
That the first two both clocked world records - winner Abderrahim Zhiou is a T12 runner and silver medallist David Korir T13 - showed the quality of field the Liverpool athlete was up against.
Devine's was the 13th medal for Britain's athletes after they won 17 in total four years ago in Beijing.
In contrast, Steve Morris' hopes of making it a second middle-distance medal in the space of half an hour ended in disappointment as he finished sixth in the T20 1500m.