Blackwell, Loccident set Championship Records, Team USA Earns Three Medals on Day Two in Kobe

KOBE, JAPAN – Twenty-year-old Jaydin Blackwell (Oak Park, Michigan) defended his 100-meter T38 world title in record fashion as Team USA snagged a hat trick of medals on the second day of the 2024 Para Athletics World Championships in Kobe, Japan.

Also earning podiums for Team USA were Noah Malone (Fishers, Indiana), who took silver in a photo finish in the men’s 100-meter T12 and Derek Loccident (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), who nabbed an unprecedented silver medal in his first-ever international high jump competition.

Blackwell set a meet record en route to his second consecutive world championships gold medal in the 100-meter. His time of 10.86 beat out the rest of the field by nearly two-tenths of a second.

“I just wanted to get out and run my race and not worry about anything else,” he said. “It feels really good. I love standing on that podium. A lot of people don’t get that opportunity, so to do it twice, it gives me determination and makes me want to do it again in future years.”

Blackwell was joined in the event final by U.S. teammates Ryan Medrano (Savannah, Georgia) and Nick Mayhugh (Manassas, Virginia), who each put together strong performances to finish fifth and seventh, respectively. After setting a personal best in yesterday’s prelim, Medrano did it again in the final, finishing in 11.13. Mayhugh’s time of 11.34 was a season’s best for the four-time Paralympic medalist.

Blackwell and Medrano look to qualify for their first Paralympic Games in Paris, while Mayhugh is seeking his second Paralympic berth. All three will return to the track for the 400-meter T38, while Medrano will also compete in the long jump.

“[Ryan and Nick] put so much work into this too,” Blackwell said. “All of us have such good work ethic when it comes to practice, treatment, taking care of our bodies. To have them with me means I’m not alone out there.”

Loccident’s high jump T64 silver medal came along with a championship record of his own after the 2023 long jump worlds silver medalist set a massive personal best by jumping 2.04 meters. In a mixed class event, Loccident’s jump was the first time a T64 athlete had ever cleared two meters at a world championships.

The former Division I football player added high jump to his repertoire just three months ago and now ranks among the world’s best. He said he surprised even himself with today’s result – it was the first time he had ever broken the two-meter mark.

“I’m honestly at a loss for words. You can’t really put this moment into words,” he said. “With being new to high jump, there were a lot of things I wasn’t comfortable with coming in like warm-up times. I was trying to keep everything simple so I was able to compete at a high level.”

Loccident still has his signature long jump on his plate in Kobe, as well as the 100-meter and javelin, another new event for him.

“At the end of the day, it’s just being an athlete,” he said of adding high jump and javelin. “It all began with me making the decision to go back into football after my train accident in 2018. A lot of those skills I built throughout that time are translating really well to track and field. Football really set the bar for me and what I’m capable of doing.”

In one of the tightest finishes of the championships thus far, Malone was edged by .02 seconds at the finish line, but claimed the third world championships medal of his career. His time of 10.55 was behind only Turkey’s Serkan Yildrim, who set a personal best by three-tenths of a second with a championship record-breaking run.

Four-time Paralympic medalist Roderick Townsend (Stockton, California) put together a season’s best performance in the men’s long jump T47, jumping a best mark of 6.99 meters and placing fifth in a deep field.

Townsend took only four of his allotted six jumps in order to focus on his best event, the high jump, which will be contested tomorrow.

“Training has been amazing, and there has been some stuff that I’ve been doing really well, even if I wasn’t able to show it with the distance today,” Townsend said. “I had four fair jumps today, so that’s something to be proud of, even if the distance didn’t show it. High jump is going to be so exciting. I want to put on a show. I feel amazing. I’m looking forward to it.”

Competing in her worlds debut, Catarina Guimaraes (Cranford, New Jersey) ran a personal-best time in the 100-meter T38 to qualify for her first career event final. The 20-year-old will race tomorrow night for a medal after posting a time of 13.68 in preliminary heat racing.

Competition resumes tomorrow at 9 a.m. local time at the Universiade Memorial Stadium in Kobe. All sessions will be streamed live on the Paralympics YouTube Channel and the World Para Athletics Facebook page. For updates and results from Team USA, follow U.S. Paralympics Track & Field on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

For media requests and photo inquiries, please contact Kristen Gowdy at Kristen.Gowdy@usopc.org.

Team USA Medals – May 18

GOLD
Jaydin Blackwell – men’s 100-meter T38

SILVER
Derek Loccident – men’s high jump T64

Noah Malone – men’s 100-meter T12

Other Team USA Results

Ryan Medrano – 5th, men’s 100-meter T38

Roderick Townsend – 5th, men’s long jump T47

Nick Mayhugh – 7th, men’s 100-meter T38

Catarina Guimaraes – finals, women’s 100-meter T38