Praveen Kumar clinched a gold medal in the men's high jump event at the Paris Paralympics 2024 on Friday. He registered a brilliant jump of 2.08m to clinch his second and India's 11th medal in Paralympics history.
The 21-year-old athlete from Noida, Uttar Pradesh became the only second Indian after Mariyappan Thangavelu to win a gold in the high jump events in Paralympics. The USA's Derek Loccident clinched silver with a 2.06m jump while Temurbek Giyazov of Uzbekistan finished third to take a bronze medal with a 2.03m jump.
He led India to its record-breaking sixth gold medal in Paralympics history, surpassing five-gold success at the 2022 Tokyo Para Games. Praveen, the silver medalist in Tokyo, also helped India extend their record medal tally at the Paris Games to 26.
Praveen managed to clear his first five targets, including a winning jump of 2.08m, in his first attempts. He and Loccident then battled for the top finish with the American athlete skipping 2.08m and going for the next target of 2.10m.
Loccident failed to clear 2.10m in both his attempts to settle for the silver medal. Despite ensuring a top finish, Praveen kept trying and attempted 2.10m in hoping to break a world record of 2.11m in T64 events. But the Indian youngster failed to clear the bar in his three attempts and walked away with a historic gold with a 2.08m winning jump.
India's gold medalists at Paris Paralympics 2024
- Avani Lekhara (Shooting) - Women's R2 10m air rifle standing SH1
- Nitesh Kumar (Badminton) - Men's singles SL3
- Sumit Antil (Athletics) - Men's javelin throw F64
- Harvnder Singh (Archery) - Men's individual recurve open
- Dharambir (Athletics) - Men's club throw F51
- Praveen Kumar (Athletics) - Men's high jump T64
