Eden Rainbow-Cooper only found out two days ago that she was racing the 5000m heat but put down a bold performance to qualify for a maiden Paralympic final in Paris.

The 23-year-old from Portsmouth was entered in the women's T54 5000m in the French capital, a race which was initially meant to be a straight final but was on the start line on the opening day of athletics competition after a change in plans.

And with a fifth-place finish and a risky few laps later, Rainbow-Cooper booked her spot in what is set to be a storming final at the Stade de France.

"Originally the plan was for it to only ever be a 5k final and we found out only two days ago that it would be heats," she said, who is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support – which has been vital on their pathway to the Paris 2024 Games. 

"It was as if one athlete found out and then a word of mouth between us all. It was not the most relaxing way to go into my first Paralympic race, but I made it work and I'm really happy to have been out on the track and got a feel for it before the final tomorrow.

"I'm just going to absolutely send it for 5k."

Rainbow-Cooper usually favours the longer distance events, winning the Boston Marathon earlier this year and set to take to the roads of Paris in the event later in the competition schedule.

And with her Paralympic debut being on the track in the 5000m, it was the opportunity to get some vital experience against some of the best in the world whilst also pushing herself in some bold tactics.

"All of the girls in that heat, bar Suzanna who is the world record holder, were really close on times so we knew it would be a super difficult race," she said.

"I don't have the same acceleration at the end as some of the other girls, so I had a bold tactic to go out hard for a couple of laps and see if a gap opened which it didn't and then they all shot past me.

"It took enough out of the girls that it gave me a better chance so I'm pretty happy with how I executed it.

"The track isn't my main event and I'm trying to improve on it.

"Any race that I get to do, especially against such incredibly fast athletes is huge for me and I get a lot of experience from it.

"But I feel good, the 5k final is tomorrow and we will see what happens with that and building into the marathon."

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