Davies seals shot put bronze

Aled Davies delighted a near full Olympic Stadium by winning Great Britain's first Paralympic athletics medal on the first morning of competition.

The 21-year-old clinched bronze in the F42/44 shot put with a throw of 13.78 metres.

That worked out at a total of 961 points. The Welsh athlete finished 26 points behind Croatian silver medallist Darko Kralj, with Denmark's Jackie Christiansen taking gold.

Davies, who was making his Paralympic debut and whose main event is the discus, saved his longest throw for his sixth and final attempt, although he was already on course for the podium thanks to a third-round effort of 13.63.

The Bridgend athlete, who represented Wales at swimming before turning his attention to athletics in 2006, was born with talipese and hemi-hemilia in his right leg, which means the limb is missing bones, muscle and ligaments and is supported with a brace.

There was disappointment for the men's team captain Stephen Miller, though, as the 32-year-old had to settle for 11th place in the F31/32/51 club throw.

Miller, who has cerebral palsy, had much higher hopes in his fifth Games, having three times won gold.

But he could only manage 26.70m, which equated to 837 points, way down on his season's best of 30.71m.

He said: "I had three bad throws and when you do that at the Paralympics you pay the price.

"I had a really bad day, I can't make any excuses. I haven't had many bad days in my career, so I guess I was due one. It's just a shame it was in London."