Arelle Middleton Skipped Her High School State Meet To Grab A Worlds Medal In Kobe

When California hosted its state track meet in late May, competitors in the girls’ shot put had to be relieved to not see Arelle Middleton there.

Last year, Middleton won the state title as a freshman. This year, however, she had to miss state due to her qualifying for the World Para Athletics Championships, which took place from May 17-25 in Kobe, Japan.

Middleton took home a silver medal from Kobe in the women’s shot put F64 with a throw of 11.84 meters in a field of competitors that are all at least four years older than the 16-year-old. She also competed in the discus and finished in sixth. 

The Kobe trip marked Middleton’s first international meet — and almost certainly not be her last. Middleton is now training to compete at the U.S. Paralympic Team Trials and then, she hopes, the Paralympic Games Paris 2024.  

Middleton finished her sophomore year at Los Osos High School in Rancho Cucamonga, California, a few weeks early to travel to Japan. She spent the winter training with her high school coach and the Los Osos track team.

“Everyone’s been super supportive,” she said of her teammates.

Middleton competes against able-bodied and Para athletes in high school track. She also plays wheelchair basketball and has competed in wheelchair tennis as well.

She began competing in Para track and field at age 12 and saw immediate success. A congenital femoral deficiency means that Middleton’s left leg is about six inches shorter than her right, and her left hip is underdeveloped as well. She throws both shot put and discus, but prefers the former because the footwork is less complex and requires less finessing around her leg-length discrepancy.

Middleton said that she is prone to “overthinking” in high-pressure situations, something she sought to alleviate by competing in every high school track meet as though she were lining up at the world championships.

“I would do every school meet as best as I possibly could,” she said, hoping to improve her confidence going into worlds.

She also works hard to clear her mind completely before throws in order to stay calm. Once she begins throwing, she said she feels relief.

Nonetheless, Middleton said she was nervous in Kobe when heading into the discus, which was her first event.

“I was less confident because the shot put is my main event,” she said.

The 13-hour flight from California and the ensuing jet lag didn’t help, she said. A team hangout and a trip to a mall on her first day in Japan helped her avoid falling asleep and allowed her to get used to the time change before training began.

After finishing sixth in the discus, she said that relief set in, and she was better able to keep her nerves at bay.

That showed in the shot put event four days later. Her practice paid off on her penultimate throw that netted her the silver medal.

“Everything felt right with that throw,” she said.

Yao Juan of China won gold in both the shot put and discus in the F63 class, giving her 10 total world titles to go along with five Paralympic gold medals. When Yao won her first gold medal, which came in the javelin at the 2000 Sydney Games, she was 17, just a year older than Middleton is now.

Meeting her competition, as well as her teammates, was a highlight of competing in Kobe, Middleton said. She trained with Noelle Malkamaki, the world record holder in the women’s shot put F46 who defended her world title in Japan.

“It was a great experience to practice with her,” Middleton said.

She had only met a few of her teammates at domestic competitions and was grateful to meet some of the older members of Team USA at worlds.

“Everyone was super sweet, and it was a great experience to meet everybody,” she said.

Despite a potentially jam-packed summer ahead, Middleton said she is grateful for the experience of competing at worlds because it eases her mind going into Paralympic trials and, she hopes, Paris.

“I think the trials would be a lot more stressful (without the worlds experience),” she said, “just because of how much bigger it is than a high school competition. … Now I feel a lot more ready.”

Lela Moore is a freelance contributor to usparatf.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.