NAMIBIA'S Paralympic gold medalist Johanna Benson came third in the 60m at the Scotland Indoor Athletics Grand Prix in Glasgow on Saturday.

Competing in the 60m in the T37 category for the first time, Benson crossed the line in 9,23 seconds to finish third in a time of 9,23 seconds.

The race was won by Katrina Hart of Great Britain in 9,00 seconds, while her compatriot Olivia Breen came second in 9,12.

Benson just beat Jenny McLoughlin of Great Britain, who came fourth in 9,25, to the line, while Heather Jameson of Ireland came fifth in 9,59.

Benson's coach Mike Hamukwaya said that Benson needed to work on her start.

"It was an interesting race but it needed an explosive start to win this race. I have seen that we really need to work on her explosive start for her to be more aggressive over the first 10m or so," he said.

"Johanna needs to start using starting blocks because this will help with her explosive start but overall this was a good experience," he added.

Hamukwaya said he was happy with her performance, bearing in mind that it was her first indoor competition.

"We saw that an indoor setup is totally different from an outdoor competition and as this was her first indoor competition, we have learned a lot and hopefully she will do much better in her next indoor competition," he said.

According to Hamukwaya, Benson received a fine welcome from the 4 000-strong crowd at the athletics arena.

"The arena was packed to capacity and when Johanna was introduced to the crowd as the current Paralympic champion, they gave her a fantastic reception," he said.

He added that Benson was happy with her performance.

"She is happy with the performance. She knows that she is coming from a long break after the Paralympic Games, and she feels this was a good experience for her first indoor competition," he said.