Carey Claims Gold as U.S. Collects 28 Medals at 2025 World Para Athletics Championships

NEW DELHI, INDIA – On the final night of competition at the World Para Athletics Championships, Team USA claimed its sixth and final gold medal of the meet to bring the U.S. medal total to 28. The tally includes nine silver and 13 bronze.

The gold was Annie Carey’s encore. After winning the silver in a mixed category long jump and setting a world record for the T44 (movement affected in one lower leg), she got out fast in tonight’s 200m. Carey rocketed off the turn and decisively won the race in 27.31, her first ever gold medal at her first ever global championships.

“I felt really good. I was listening to my coach and he was like ‘get out to the curve, be patient and once you hit the end just run for it,’” said Carey who competes for Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland. “I’ve been working really hard on that last 50-meters and keeping my knees up. It seems to be working.”

Taylor Swanson earned her second medal of the championships, falling after the finish line, but not before claiming the bronze in the 200m T37 (movement or coordination impairment on one side). Swanson, who won silver in the 100m, finished with a time of 28.22. 

“To come back and medal at these championships is really huge for me,” said Swanson, who is prone to falls due to the fatigue caused by cerebral palsy. “In Paris, I fell before the finish line so being able to complete the race was a win.“

The night ended with a bronze medal from Sydney Barta. Barta shot out of the blocks in the 200m T64 (below the knee amputee) and held on after the curve to grab the final spot on the podium with a time of 27.51.

“My race plan was to get out really hard. I knew I had really good closers coming in behind me and I knew the conditions that we were in, the air quality,” said Barta, a bioengineering student at Stanford University. “I knew I was going to be winded at the very end so I really wanted to get out while I had that built up energy. I really felt it toward the end, but I just kept thinking ‘keep trucking, keep trucking!”

The evening began with the men’s 100m T63 (above the leg impairment or absence of limbs). For Ezra Frech, the star of the 2024 Paralympic Games, it was the end of a disappointing championship meet by his standards. Frech, who won gold in this event in Paris, only managed a fifth place finish tonight in a time of 12.52. Earlier in the meet, he won the silver medal in the high jump and placed fifth in the long jump. Frech was one spot behind Desmond Jackson, the veteran sprinter who finished fourth in 12.35. 

Violet Hall and Kerragan Johnson, two high school rising stars, capped off their first global championships by qualifying for the final of the 200m T47 (impairment or absence of one arm). Hall finished fifth with a time of 25.51 while Johnson was right behind her in sixth with a time of 25.59.

Other finals this evening saw Leo Merle set a personal best in the 1500m T38 (movement and coordination affected in trunk and lower legs. His time of 4:00.47 earned him a sixth place finish. Jonathan Gore finished seventh in the 200m T64 (below the knee amputee) with a time of 23.35.

TOTAL MEDALS (28)

GOLD (6)

Jaydin Blackwell, 100m T38

Joel Gomez, 1500m T13 

Jaydin Blackwell, 400m T38

Arelle Middleton, shot put F44

Michael Brannigan, 1500m T20

Annie Carey, 200m T44

SILVER (9)

Ezra Frech, high jump T63

Ryan Medrano, 100m T38

Samantha Heyison, discus F44 

Jessica Heim,  discus F44 

Taylor Swanson, 100m T37

Annie Carey, 100m T44

Max Rohn, discus T64

Josh Cinnamo, shot put T46

Derek Loccident, long jump T64

BRONZE (13)

Jaleen Roberts, long jump T37 

Katie Hwang, shot put F36

Kym Crosby, 100m T13

Alicia Guerrero, discus F64 

Kym Crosby, 200m T13 

Noelle Lambert-Beirne, long jump T63

Alicia Guerrero, shot put F64

Beatriz Hatz, long jump T64

Roderick Townsend, T47, high jump

Hannah Dederick, 400m T54

Jarryd Wallace, long jump T64

Taylor Swanson, 200m T37

Sydney Barta, 200m T64