Team USA Collects Three Discus Medals on Day Three

NEW DELHI, INDIA – Day three of the World Para Athletics Championships brought the busiest day for Team USA thus far and added three medals to the tally - all of them in the discus.

The morning session was focused on the discus with four U.S. athletes competing across two finals. In the F64 (lower leg impairment or absence of leg below the knee), three of the six women competing represented Team USA, guaranteeing at least one medal. But U.S. athletes got two. With a season’s best final throw of 35.75, Jessica Heims secured the silver medal and won her first major global medal as a senior. Teammate Alicia Guerrero recorded a mark of 29.45 on her second throw to hold on and take the bronze.

“I was just happy,” said Heims, who lives and trains in Iowa. “Any day we get to throw is a good day and nothing better than throwing with these two,”

“I was definitely a bit nervous, a little bit of an internal battle, but I am happy with the end result,” said Guerrero. “Jess is a great mentor for us and helps us out at each competition”

Chloe Chavez, the third U.S. woman in the event, finished fifth with a mark of 26.87.

Samantha Heyison was the sole U.S. participant in the F44 (lower leg impairment) category. She had a monster third attempt, throwing 40.65m to move into the silver medal position and that’s where she stayed, upgrading one spot from her bronze medal at the 2023 World Championships. She will also compete in the shot put. 

“This group of F44 ladies is very fierce. So to come second, I am ecstatic,” said Heyison, a senior at Wake Forest University. “Those first two throws, they felt very easy and smooth and I just knew that if I put a little bit more energy on that technique I had in those first two that I could break forty. And I did.” 

Bob Hunt set a new personal best of 51.42 to qualify for the evening’s T53 (wheelchair athletes with trunk and leg impairment) 400m. Joel Gomez made the finals of the T13 (visual impairment) 1500m by running 3:49.11 to place third in his heat. He will race again on Tuesday morning.

The evening session kicked off with what can only be described as an upset. World record holder Brittni Mason missed the podium in the T46 (impairment in one arm or absence of limb) 100m. Mason finished fifth in 12.38. High schooler Violet Hall was eighth in 12.62.

Two wheelchair racing finals saw Hunt return after his race in the morning and finish 8th in 53.18 in the T53 400m final. In the T54  (wheelchair athletes with leg impairment) 800m, Hannah Dederick finished 6th in 1:50.82.

A season’s best wasn’t enough for Ezra Frech to earn a medal in the T63 (absence of one leg above the knee) long jump. He finished fifth with a mark of 6.98 which came on his last attempt. Desmond Jackson fouled out of the competition.

In the men's 100m T64 preliminary heats, Jarryd Wallace, a two-time Paralympic bronze medalist, qualified to the finals on time, finishing third in his heat in 11.28. Jonathan Gore, running in a later heat, did not qualify after finishing fourth.

Kate Hwang, who won a bronze medal in the shot put on the first day of competition, did not advance in the  T36 (movement and coordination impairment in all four limbs) 100m.

TOTAL MEDALS (9)

GOLD (1)

Jaydin Blackwell, T38 100m

SILVER (4)

Ezra Frech, T63 high jump

Ryan Medrano, T38 100m

Samantha Heyison, F44 discus 

Jessica Heim, F64 discus

BRONZE (4)

Jaleen Roberts, T37 long jump

Katie Hwang, F36 shot put

Kym Crosby, T13 100m

Alicia Guerrero, F64 discus