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Jonathan Bloom-Edwards of Great Britain won his third consecutive high jump victory at the World Para Athletics Championships held in Kobe.
Bloom-Edwards, a 2019 world gold medalist and Paralympic champion, shared gold with Poland’s Maciej Repiato at last year’s World Championships in Paris.
In Japan, the 35-year-old’s first clear of 2.04 meters was enough for a gold medal.
The silver medal went to former American football player Derek Loccident, who lost the lower part of his leg in a train accident in 2019, and achieved a score of 2.04 on his third attempt to improve his personal best.
Repiato won the bronze medal with a score of 2.04 despite three failures, but the title went to Bloom-Edwards as Bloom-Edwards and L’Occident failed to clear the 2.07 mark.
“We came up with a plan, executed it and checked all the boxes,” he said.
“Even though it’s early in the season, there’s still a lot to work on in terms of performance.
“I’m very happy with the result of the competition. My body is a mess right now, but I think I celebrated a little too much by clearing 2.04 meters.”
“It’s great to have so many new faces in the competition. The field is packed and it’s amazing to see the sport evolve. It’s great to see them teaching other dogs how to do that.”
Young and Shaw increase GB medal tally
Paralympic champion Thomas Young won silver in the T38 100m final.
Young missed the 2022 Commonwealth Games due to injury and finished seventh at the 2023 World Championships.
He clocked a time of 11.02 seconds, with American Jaydyn Blackwell winning the championship with a championship record of 10.86.
“I wanted to win, but Paris (2024 Paralympics) is in a few months, so that’s my main focus,” Young said.
“The race was OK. We started OK, maybe we could have been better in the middle, but we finished strong. The T38 class is very strong right now, so we were able to get involved in the medals. It’s unbelievable.”
Zach Shaw wins his second consecutive World Championship bronze medal in the T12 100m final with a season-best 10.97 seconds behind Turkey’s Serkan Yildirim (10.53 seconds) and American Noah Malone (10.55 seconds) did.