World Para Athletics Championships: Bulgarian Ruzhdi wins 6th straight shot put gold with world record

Bulgaria’s Ruzhdi claimed his sixth successive gold medal in the men’s shot put F55 competition with a world record throw in the World Para Athletics Championships here on Sunday.

The 34-year-old sent the iron ball to a distance of 12.94m in his sixth and final attempt, bettering his own world record of 12.68m which he had set in the 2023 World Championships in Paris, in the event in which athletes compete from a seated position as they do not have lower limb function.

Serbia’s Nebojsa Duric took the silver with a personal best 12.52m while Lech Stoltman of Poland was third with 12.02m.

Three world records were smashed during the morning session of the second day of the championships.

Malaysia’s Abdul Latif Romly completed a hat-trick of men’s long jump T20 gold medals in World Championships with a world record effort of 7.67m. Volodymyr Ponomarenko of Ukraine set a men’s shot put T12 world record with 17.39m on his second attempt to take the top spot.

T20 class is meant for athletes with intellectual disabilities while T12 is for runners with a visual impairment.

Ruzhdi, who survived a car crash which left him paralysed waist down, added to the gold he won in each edition of the World Championships dating back to Doha in 2015. It was the third time he won gold with a world record throw.

The 28-year-old long jumper Romly has dominated the event, winning five gold medals and a silver. The only time he has was beaten in a World Championships was back in Dubai in 2019.

Nassima Saifi of Algeria completed her double hat-trick of gold medals with a 34.54m effort in the women’s discus throw F57 event. The difference was quite apparent as each of her five valid throws were over 32m while China’s silver medallist Tian Yuxin’s best effort of 30.30m was only one of two other throws over the 30m mark.

Catherine Debrunner of Switzerland was an impressive winner in the women’s 5000m T54 race with a time of 12 minute 18.29 seconds, beating Chinese defending champion Tian Yajuan and her own team-mate Patricia Eachus.

Debrunner’s arms generated power for her wheelchair to shoot into the lead just after the 3km mark.

Norway’s Salum Ageze Kashafali ensured that the flow of world records would continue on a humid Sunday when he clocked 10.42 seconds in the men’s 100m T12 final to improve on his own mark of 10.43 seconds set in 2021.

In keeping with the flurry of records being rewritten on the new Mondo track in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, there were five other championships records set on Sunday evening, with legends Marcel Hug (Switzerland) and Great Britain’s Hannck Cockroft showcasing their tales of endurance and longevity in sport.

Hug predictably won the men’s 5000m T54 race with a measure of comfort. His arms powered his wheelchair to claim victory in 10:03.64, more than 16 seconds faster than the championship record he had set in Lyon way back in 2013. France’s Thibault Daurat fed on Hug’s pace to dip in under the old mark.

The 39-year-old Hug is a stunning example of endurance who has been competing for over two decades. The Silver Bullet, as he is known, has won a dozen gold among 22 medals in six earlier editions of the World Championships. Besides, he has 15 medals, including seven gold, in the Paralympic Games.

Similarly, Hannah Cockroft led a Great Britain sweep of the medals in the women’s 400m T34 final, cruising home in 55.62 seconds for a championship record. In winning her mind-boggling 17^th World Championships gold medal, the inspirational 33-year-old improved her own meet mark of 58.29 seconds, set eight years ago.

United States’ Jadin Blackwell reclaimed the 100m T38 championship record from his team-mate Ryan Medrano with a scintillating run in the final. Medrano had broken Blackwell’s meet mark of 10.86 seconds by clocking 10.83 seconds in the heats.

However, the 21-year-old world record holder delivered a winning run in the final to add to his gold medals in 2023 and 2024 and complete a hat-trick.

Orla Comerford of Ireland claimed the women’s 100m T13 crown in 11.88 seconds, a championship record time, bettering the 12.00 seconds set by Leilia Adzametova of Ukraine in 2017. Ricardo Gomes de Mendonca of Brazil blazed the 100m distance in 11.16 seconds to win the 100m T37 gold with a new championship record.

No medal for India on Day 2

No Indian could win a medal on the second day after the one gold, one silver and one bronze on Saturday.

Long jumper Vikas tried hard but failed short of a podium finish. He finished sixth in the men’s T47 long jump final with an effort of 6.96m. His team-mate Ajay Singh was unable to improve on his season best jump of 6.31m and finished 10^th.

Praveen Kumar and Hem Chandra took the ninth and 10^th spots in the men’s javelin throw F57 event while sprinters Rakeshbhai Bhatt and Shreyansh Trivedi ended at seventh and eighth in the men’s 100m T37 race.