PARALYMPICS 2024: Mhlongo claims bronze medal and breaks second World Record
This was Mpumelelo Mhlongo's second medal and South Africa's sixth medal at the Paris Paralympic Games.
Mpumelelo Mhlongo wins a bronze medal in the Mens T64 200m at the Paris Paralympic Games. Picture: @OfficialTeamRSA/X.
JOHANNESBURG - Mpumelelo Mhlongo claimed the bronze medal in the Men’s 200m T64 Final on Saturday evening.
This was Mhlongo's second medal and South Africa's sixth medal at the Paris Paralympic Games.
The gold medal was scooped by Costa Rica's Sherma Guity Guity (T64) in a time of 21.32 and the silver medal by the Netherlands' Levi Vloet (T64) at 22.47.
The T44 athlete was running in a higher category than his T44, and he set a new world record in the 200m at 22.62, breaking his Tokyo Paralympics world record of 22.81.
Earlier in the week, Mhlongo broke the world record in the T44 long jump at the Paris Paralympic Games.
Mhlongo was already the world record holder with 7.07m in the T44 classification but came up against athletes in the T62 and T64 class. He improved his world record to 7.12m.
T44 athletes have mild limb loss, muscle weakness or restrictions in the legs, however, do not use any prosthetics.
T64 athletes have an absence of one leg below the knee and use a prosthetic running leg.
The Team SA flag bearer at the Paris Games dominated the men’s T44 100m when he won South Africa's first medal a gold in a time of 11.12 seconds.
READ MORE:
• PARALYMPICS 2024: Mpumelelo Mhlongo breaks world record, SA scoops 2 more bronze medals
• PARALYMPICS 2024: Para-athlete Mpumelelo Mhlongo wins gold in 100m