SA's Para-athletes bring home 6 medals, world & African record from World Champs

JOHANNESBURG – Team South Africa brings home six medals, a world record and an African record from the 2024 Para Athletics World Championships in Kobe, Japan which ran from 17 May to 25 May.

The World Championships are a crucial qualifier for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

SIMONÉ KRUGER

Para-athlete Simoné Kruger broke her own world record in the F38 discus event by throwing a distance of 38.82 and snatching a gold medal.

Kruger was also awarded Sports Women of the Year with a Disability at the African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Regional 5 Silver Jubilee celebration.

She was represented by her mother, Susan, at the awards in Lusaka, Zambia while the athlete competed in Japan.

At the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in Paris, France Kruger set the F38 discus event, with a throw of 38.1m to snatch the gold medal.

F38 is for field athletes with low-level impairment affecting the lower trunk and legs, down one side or the whole body.

READ: 'I'm happy with my season so far,' says budding shot put & discus star, Simoné Kruger

PUSELETSO MABOTE

Puseletso Mabote broke an African record and won a silver medal in the men’s 100m T63 in a time of 12.04 at the World Championships.

Earlier in the year, at the national Toyota South African Sports Association for the Physically Disabled (SASAPD) championships, Mabote ran a new world record of 25:12 in the men’s 200m T63 race and set a new African record in the men’s 100m T63.

T63 are athletes with single above-the-knee amputation who compete in running or jumping using a prosthesis.

COLLEN MAHLALELA

Newcomer Collen Mahlalela won a silver medal in the men’s 400m T47 at his first appearance at the World Championships.

Earlier this year, Mahlalela won two gold medals - one in the 400m and another in the long jump - while also breaking the African record in the 400m at the recent SASAPD National Championships.

The 28-year-old from the village of Mthatha in Enkomazi, Mpumalanga competed at the Dubai 2024 World Para Athletics Grand Prix earlier in the year, where he bagged silver in the men’s 400m and bronze in the men’s long jump T47.

T47 is a disability sport classification for disability athletics primarily for competitors with a below elbow or wrist amputation or impairment.

READ: Newcomer Collen Mahlalela makes SA's Para Athletics World Championships

MPUMELELO MHLONGO

Mpumelelo Mhlongo won South Africa's first gold medal at the Para Athletics World Championships in Japan.

The 30-year-old dominated the T44 men's 100m race, coming first in a time of 11.34.

At the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships at the Charlety Stadium in Paris, Mhlongo also won SA's first gold medal in the T44 Men's 100m, in a time of 11.46.

T44 is a disability sport classification for disability athletics, applying to single below-knee amputation or an athlete who can walk with moderately reduced function in one or both legs.

READ: Mhlongo wins SA's 1st gold medal at Para Athletics World Champs

LOUZANNE COETZEE

Louzanne Coetzee and her guide, Estean Badenhorst, won the bronze medal in the Women’s 1,500m T11 Final in a time of 4:50.78.

T11 is for runners with a near-total visual impairment.

The completely blind track, road, and cross-country Paralympian started her running career in her first year at the University of the Free State (UFS) at the age of 19.

READ: Louzanne Coetzee wins a bronze medal at the Para Athletics World Championships

LIEZEL GOUWS

South Africa's Liezel Gouws won Team SA’s first medal at the World Championships a bronze in the Women’s 400 m T37.

T37 is for athletes with movement and coordination moderately affected down one side.

Gouws made her international debut in 2013 and went on to break the world record in the 800m T37 women’s competition in 2015 and 2018.

READ: Liezel Gouws wins SA's 1st medal at Para Athletics World Championships