Golden Leap! Thangavelu Wins World Para Athletics High Jump

Paralympic Games’ silver medalist Thangavelu Mariyappan clinched a gold in T63 high jump in the World Para Athletics Championships with the record of 1. 88m. This was his first gold in a major event in eight years, which could have been an incredible achievement.

Mariyappan is the 28-year-old has secured a gold medal in the event T42 high jump in the Rio Paralympics 2016, and silver medalist in the T63 version in Tokyo Paralympics 2021. He also clinched a silver medal in the T63 class in the Para Asian Games held in Hangzhou recently.

T63 is for single leg below knee or through knee or above knee and bilateral below knee amputee athletes, participating with a prosthesis.

Ezra Frech and Sam Grewe from America won the silver and bronze medals with their respective jumps of 1. 85m and 1. 82m respectively.

Born in Salem district in Tamil Nadu province, Mariyappan was being brought up by a single mother who is a daily wage worker who supplements her income by selling vegetables after his father left home.

Mariyappan was stricken with this permanent disability at the youthful age of five when a drunk bus driver crushed him while on his way to school. Before engaging in sports, the boy would perform the duties of a newspaper vendor and work at construction sites to assist his mother in providing for the family.

While In the women's F51 club throw competition earlier in the day, Ekta Bhyan won the gold medal with a season-best throw of 20.12 meters. In the same event, Kashish Lakra, another Indian, won silver with a 14.56-meter effort.