Para Worlds: Shailesh sets high jump mark, gets India campaign going

young new delhi: Shailesh Kumar opened bharat’s calculate on the gap day of the World Para Athletics Championships with gold in the high jump T63 event at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Saturday. The 25-year-old cleared 1.91m to not only rewrite the championship record, but also beat USA’s 20-year-old phenom Ezra Frech — the reigning Paralympics champion.

Shailesh’s disability class of T42 pertains to above-knee amputation or a similar functional impairment. The athletes classified under this category are permitted to compete in T63 events, which include those with less severe through-knee or above-knee single limb deficiency.

Shailesh’s golden jump hence bettered the T42 championship record of 1.83m that was held by India’s Sharad Kumar since the 2019 Worlds in Dubai. Shailesh had equalled that mark at the 2023 Paris World Championships for silver and then achieved a personal best of 1.86m earlier this season.

On Saturday, he opened the competition with a 1.82m jump before clearing 1.85m with ease to break the championship record. He then raised the bar to 1.88m and cleared it with a neatly executed Fosbury Flop to better the T42 record for the second time in the evening. The jump also confirmed his gold with Ezra having managed a best of 1.85m.

Not done yet, Shailesh returned to jump 1.91m to put the result beyond doubt. Compatriot Varun Singh Bhati also jumped 1.85m, but had to settle for third place on countback.

The T63 championship record, however, still belongs to Ezra, who cleared 1.95m in Paris in 2023. The American also holds the world record of 1.97m, which he set last year at a meet in Miramar, USA.

“To beat an athlete like Frech feels truly special. I was targetting 1.94m but that didn’t happen today. But no problem, I will cross that in the next competition,” Shailesh said after his win.

Hailing from Islamnagar village in Bihar’s Jamui district, Shailesh contracted polio in his right leg when he was about five years old. “There was not much of sports back in my village, but I gradually started at my school. Back then, I used to play with able-bodied athletes. Later, some of my friends told me about Paralympics and I decided to give para high jump a try,” Shailesh, who won gold in the able-bodied high jump event at the junior state meet in 2016, said.

His first major success came at the junior World Para Athletics Championships in Nottwil, Switzerland in 2019 where he won gold with a jump of 1.65m. “My journey effectively began there. That gold opened up a lot of avenues for me,” he said. Later that year, he was inducted in the SAI Gandhinagar centre with a monthly stipend of ₹10,000.

Shailesh trained at the SAI Bengaluru campus for the Worlds and reached Delhi 10 days ago to get used to the hot and humid conditions. “Heat was certainly a factor because Bengaluru was much cooler, but my preparation was on point. I am happy to open India’s account with gold,” he said.

Bhati, meanwhile, ended his seven-year wait for an international medal. “I was very hopeful today. I had to be satisfied with a bronze, but finally the wait for a medal is over,” he said. The 30-year-old came into prominence with bronze at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, following it up with a World Championships bronze in 2017. A silver at the Asian Para Games in 2018 followed but a combination of injuries and bad form led to a long phase without a medal.

“This is the most successful year of my life. I can say I am finally back. I have had a lot of injuries since 2018 and was tired mentally as well. All that contributed to my poor run,” he said.

“It was very difficult to deal with repeated reversals. I have not slept well for the last 7-8 years but I will get sound sleep tonight. I am very hopeful of next year’s Asian Para Games and the LA Paralympics. My performances started getting better from last year but this year I was fully fit and the performance speaks for itself,” Bhati added.

Silver for Deepthi

Defending champion and Paris Paralympics bronze medallist Deepthi Jeevanji had to be content with second place in the women’s 400m T20 event.

Deepthi, who turned 22 on Saturday, clocked 55.16secs for a season’s best effort but was outperformed by Turkey’s Aysel Onder, who bettered her world record clocking 54.51secs. Onder’s previous record of 54.96secs was set a little over a year ago.

Ukraine’s Yulia Shuliar, the current Paralympic champion, completed the top three with a time of 56.29secs.

The atmosphere on the opening day of action was subdued with only a sprinkling of fans in the stands for the three-hour evening session.

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