Praveen Kumar wins gold in men's high jump at Paralympics, India clinch 26th medal

India’s Praveen Kumar clinched the gold medal at the men’s high jump T64 final during the 2024 Paris Paralympics on Friday. Praveen, who had won silver at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021, secured gold this time with a jump of 2.08 metres, which is now his new season best.

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USA’s Derek Loccident, who set a Paralympic record with a jump of 2.06 metres, won silver. Loccident had cleared that distance in his final attempt of the final, only for Praveen to follow with a jump of the same distance.

After his jump of 2.06m, Praveen’s next target was that of 2.08m. The 21 year-old cleared the mark of 2.08m, and by doing so, he set a new record as well as broke his personal best of 2.07m. A medal for Praveen was confirmed after Temurbek Giyazov of Uzbekistan failed to clear 2.06m. Giyazov clinched bronze medal.

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After the 2.08m mark, both Praveen and Derek went for the 2.10m mark but both of them eventually failed to clear that mark.

Sharad Kumar and Mariyappan Thangavelu had won medals in high jump events at the Paris Paralympics earlier. Sharad had won silver in men’s high jump T63 whereas Mariyappan won bronze in the same event.

This is India’s sixth gold and 26th medal at the Paris Paralympics. This includes six gold, nine silver and 11 bronze medals. India surpassed the tally of five gold medals from Tokyo three years ago with nation’s sixth gold after Praveen’s victory. In terms of athletics, this is India’s third gold medal and 14th overall in Paris.

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