Kobe 2024: Double delight for Blackwell, Ekler, Jong and Xiaoyan

Sometimes all that glitters really is gold. Some of the athletes who struck gold earlier in the competition found it again on Tuesday, day five of the Kobe 2024 Para Athletics World Championships. 

Hungary’s Luca Ekler, already a world champion in the 100m T38 on Sunday, jumped to the top of the podium again in the women’s long jump T38. All of her legal jumps were long enough for the gold, but the defending Paralympic champ grabbed a championship record to boot in her second go, as she leaped 5.63 metres. Neutral athlete Margarita Goncharova took the silver with a jump of 5.08 metres, her season best, and Karen Palomeque became Colombia’s first female medallist in the long jump with a bronze and an Americas record of 4.97 metres. 

“We had a really big headwind so it was a bit hard to compete, but I am happy that I could take four jumps and have a solid start of the season. And of course I am happy with the championship record,” said Ekler, who will be leaving Japan and travelling to USA to compete in the Eugene Prefontaine Classic Diamond League.  

All but one athlete in the women’s 100m T37 set a personal or season best, but China’s Wen Xiaoyan established a new world record on her way to gold. Her mark of 12.27 seconds pushed the bar ever higher to go along with her long jump T37 gold. Taylor Swanson of the US set a personal best 12.86 seconds for silver, and China added a bronze medal in the event with Jiang Fenfen’s season best.

The United States’ Jaydin Blackwell took gold in the men’s 100m T38 on Saturday and doubled his gold medal haul in the 400m. Blackwell started fast off the line and never needed to look back in the lap around the track, as he extended his lead throughout the run. His season best 48.87 seconds was the only one under 50 ticks. Ryan Medrano added another medal for the US with a second-place finish in 50.53 seconds, a career record. Defending Paralympic gold medalist Jose Rodolfo Chessani Garcia nabbed bronze with a season best 51.19 seconds. 

“I did what I needed to do on the first part and pushed all the way through. If I can keep the same mindset and drive and determination I had all these years up until Paris, I can do what I need to do there for myself and for my teammates as well,” Blackwell said.

The Netherlands’ Fleur Jong, already on the receiving side of some golden jumps in the women’s long jump T64, needed a photo to prove she was still on top in the 100m T64. Jong was trailing fellow Dutchwoman Marlene Van Gansewinkel for much of the sprint, but Jong just managed to come back right at the end to win her second gold by 0.02 seconds. 

“I’m very happy and very relieved with this win,” Jong said. “It doesn’t deserve any kind of beauty prize for execution but, oh my God, I wanted it to win so badly.” 

One-two to China, 15 to Cockroft

China took two medals in the women’s 1500m T54. Zhou Zhaoqian was last in a tight and tense group of four coming into the final 100 metres before storming ahead to nab the gold in a season best 3:33.86, five hundredths of a second ahead of fellow countrywoman Tian Yajuan. Germany’s Merle Marie Menje finished her time in Kobe with a medal of every kind with a bronze.

If a world championship is on, and Hannah Cockroft is there, it would be a good idea to prepare the gold for her already. Her quick hands in the women’s 100m T34 gave Cockroft her 15th world championship title in 16.89 seconds, more than two seconds faster than silver medalist Lan Hanyu from China. 

“World title number 15! Feels a little bit strange that it has come already. I think you count down to these things and, obviously, this year Paris is the main goal but really happy to get through that,” said Cockroft, who took the seventh world title in the 100m.

India nabbed several medals on the day and set a new record for most gold medals won at a single World Championships.
Sumit had a season best 69.50 metre throw in the men’s javelin throw F64, and fellow countryman Sandeep had a bronze medal throw at 60.41 metres. 

Dulan Kodithuwakku of Sri Lanka set a world record in the event for the F44 class, launching his javelin 66.49 metres for the silver medal.

In the men’s high jump T63, Mariyappan Thangavelu pushed the bar higher and higher, only fouling once through 1.85 metres. It was down to him and Ezra Frech of the US at 1.88 metres, and Thangavelu got over the bar on his final attempt for the win.

In the women’s club throw F51, India took the top two spots thanks to Ekta Bhyan and Kashish Lakra. Bhyan was the lone athlete to have legal throws in all six of her attempts, each of which were long enough to win the gold. Her final throw of 20.12 metres was a new season best.

That brought India to four gold medals in Kobe, their best haul in a single world championships, with four days still to come.

History for Iran, best of Brazil

Iran’s Hajar Safarzadeh Ghahderijani’s light shined bright in the women’s 400m T12. She took the lead and never let in up in the run around the track, setting an Asian record in her gold medal effort. With her run, Ghahderijani became the first Iranian woman to ever get a gold medal at the World Championships.

In the women’s 100m T11 final, it was just Brazil and China. Brazil took first and third in the event, with Jerusa Geber dos Santos setting a new championship record in 11.93 seconds. That was the first time anyone in the event completed the sprint in under 12 seconds, and broke a record that had stood since Christchurch 2011.

Brazil also bagged another gold on Tuesday with Raissa Rocha Machado taking her first gold in World Championships and setting a new championship record in the women’s javelin F56 (24.22m).

Tunisia topped the podium twice on day five. First with Yassine Guenichi in the men’s shot put F36 (16.33m) in the morning and then less than six hours later with Walid Ktila in the men’s 100m T34.

Belgium’s Maxime Carabin nabbed his third world championship triumph in his career in the men’s 400m T52. Carabin leapt out to a lead of over one second after the first 100 metres, and that lead grew by another second every 100 metres in the lap around the track on his way to a new championship record, and Belgium’s first gold medal in Kobe. Sato Tomoki and Ito Tatsuya took silver and bronze on home soil.  

There was another silver-bronze combo for Japan in the women’s 100m T63 final in which Karisma Evi Tiarani (14.65) gave Indonesia their first gold at Kobe 2024.

Malaysia took gold for the first time in Kobe in the men’s shot put F20. Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli set a new Asian record in his final attempt with a 17.43 metre throw.

Azerbaijan picked a gold medal in the men’s long jump for the second consecutive day, this time with Orkhan Aslanov in the T13 class (7.18m in the first jump).

Neutral athlete Anton Kuliatin defended his Paralympic gold in the men’s 1500m T13 by setting a season best 3:51.39, just edging out Tunisia’s Rouay Jebabli who passed two others to grab second place by one hundredth of a second ahead of Algeria’s Abdellatif Baka.

After Tuesday, China and Brazil are still leading the medal count. China has 15 gold medals and 41 in total, while Brazil has taken the top spot a total of 14 times and 25 medals overall. India, Algeria and Great Britain have four golds each in a three-way tie.

All results and medallists on day five of the Kobe 2024 Para Athletics World Championships can be found here

The Kobe 2024 action is live streamed on the World Para Athletics Facebook page and the Paralympics YouTube channel.