Ekler, Blackwell and Yarovyi script World Record to light up World Para Athletics

Luka Ekler gave herself an early birthday present by winning the women’s Long Jump T38 gold medal with a World Record in the IndianOil New Delhi 2025 World Para Athletics Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on a humid Wednesday. The Hungarian, who will celebrate her 27th birthday later this month, leapt 5.91m.

Jaydin Blackwell (top pic) (USA, men’s 400m T38) and Oleksandr Yarovyi (Neutral Para Athlete, men’s Shot Put F20) were the other athletes who raised the number of World Records set in five days of competition in New Delhi 2025 to 18.

Ekler, a two-time Paralympic Games Long Jump champion who had pegged the World Record at 5.82m three years ago in Paris and the Championships mark of 5.31m in Doha in 2019, was up against Angie Nicoll Mejia Morales and Karen Tatiana Palomque Moreno who had scored a 1-2 for Colombia in the 100m on Monday. But she lost no time in establishing her superiority.

She rewrote her own World Record twice in the span of the competition, leaping 5.86m on her second jump and improving to 5.91n on the fifth attempt. Interestingly, each of her three valid jumps was enough to fetch her the sixth World Championships gold medal, including three in Long Jump.

Luka Ekler won gold. She will celebrate her birthday this month

Jaydin Blackwell, 21, scripted a World Record time of 48.00 seconds in the men’s 400m T38 final. Having won the 100m T38 with a Championships Record on Sunday, he brooked no challenge in cruising home to a handsome victory that saw him repeat his two-gold feat from Kobe 2024 World Championships and Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

Oleksandr Yarovyi led a Ukraine 1-2 finish along with Maksym Koval in the men’s Shot Put F20 final, the former nailing a World Record of 17.73m on his third attempt. The competition was of a high quality with Malaysia’s Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli also offering the Ukraine dip some competition with two throws over 17m.

Another athlete gunning for a repeat, Hajar Safarzadeh Ghahderijani (Iran) stumbled short of the finish line and lost the women’s 400m T12 gold medal by a mere hundredths of a second. Having led all the way from the start, she was heartbroken when she realised she had to rest content with silver behind Anna Kulinich-Sorokina (Neutral Para Athlete).

China had the chance to leapdfrog over Brazil on the medal table, but it needed Liu Yiming to beat Brazil’s Jerusa Geber in the women’s 100m T11 final. Liy Yiming responded to the challenge with a personal best time of 12.11 seconds. However, Jerusa Geber created a new Championships Record with a 11.81 second effort to win gold and place Brazil clearly ahead.

Brazil ended the day on top the table with 8 gold, 15 silver and 7 bronze while China remained in second place with 7 gold, 9 silver and 5 bronze. India remained in fourth with 4 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze behind Poland’s 6-1-5 haul.

The results (finals)

Men

100m T34: 1. Chaiwat Rattana (Thailand) 15.00 seconds; 2. Rheed McCracken (Australia) 15.05; 3. Mohamad Othman (UAE) 15.04.

400m T38: 1. Jaydin Blackwell (USA) 48.00 seconds (New World Record. Old WR: 48.26, Blackwell, 2025; Old CR: 48.49, Blackwell, 2023); 2. Jose Albeiro Ramirez Estrada (Colombia) 49.18; 3. Alexandros Diamantis Skourtis (Greece) 49.74; 7. Akira Nandan Banothu (India) 51.16.

400m T52: 1. Tomoki Sato (Japan) 54.21; 2. Hirokazu Ueyonabaru (Japan) 59.55; 3. Tomoya Ito (Japan) 59.66.

800m T20: 1. Ndiaga Dieng (Italy) 1:53.91; 2. Meshal Mahutan (Saudi Arabia) 1:54.26; 3. Mehmet Emin Egilmez (Turkiye) 1:54.34.

5000m T13: 1. Aleksandr Kostin (Neutral Para Athlete) 15:08.97; 2. Abdelhadi Bourda (Algeria) 15;12.12; 3. Jean Oliveria da Silva (Brazil) 15:22.68.

Shot Put F20: 1. Oleksandr Yarovyi (Ukraine) 17.73m (New World Record. Old: 17.61, Yaovyi, 2024, Old CR: 17.57, Maksym Koval, Ukraine, 2023); 2. Maksym Koval (Ukraine) 17.52; 3. Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli (Malaysia) 17.26.

Shot Put F32: 1. Jasur Khodjaev (Uzbekistan) 9.96m; 2. Athanassios Konstantinidis (Greece) 9.65; 3. Mohamed Najib Amchi (Algeria) 9.56.

Javelin Throw F38: 1. Jose Gregorio Lemos Rivas (Colombia) 60.94m (New Championships Record. Old: 56.28, Corey Anderson, Australia, 2019); 2. Luis Fernando Lucmi Villegas (Colombia) 53.19; 3. Vladyslav Bilyi (Ukraine) 53.50.

Women

100m T11: 1. Jerusa Geber (Brazil) 11.81 seconds (New Championships Record. Old: 12.13, T Guilhermina, Brazil, 2011); 2. Liy Yiming (China). 12.11; 3. Alba Garcia Falagan (Spain) 12.21.

100m T34: 1. Hannah Cockroft (Great Britain) 17.28; 2. Kare Adenegan (Great Britain) 18.08; 3. Lan Hanyu (China) 18.60.

100m T44: 1. Victoria Jade Levitt (Great Britain) 13.22 seconds; 2. Annie Carey (USA); 3. Bebe Jackson (Great Britain) 13.63.

100m T63: 1. Ambra Sabatini (Italy) 14.39 seconds; 2. Karisma Evi Tiarani (Indonesia) 14.65 (New Championships Record for T42 class. Old CR: 14.72, Tiarani, 2019); 3. Ndidikama Okoh (Great Britain) 14.66.

100m T64: 1. Fleur Jong (Netherlands) 12.29 seconds; 2, Marlene van Gansewinkel (Netherlands) 12.86; 3. Marissa Papaconstantinou (Canada) 13.06.

400m T12: 1. Anna Kulnich-Sorokina (Neutral Para Athlete) 56.38 seconds; 2. Hajar Safarzadeh Ghahderijani (Iran) 56.39; 3. Alejandra Paola Perez Lopez (Venezuela) 56.66.

Long Jump T38: 1. Luca Ekler (Hungary) 5.91m (New World Record. Old WR: 5.82, Luca Ekler, 2022; Old CR: 5.31, Luca Ekler, 2019); 2. Angie Nicoll Mejia Morales (Colombia); 3. Karen Tatania Palomeque Moreno (Colombia) 5.25.

Tags : World Para Athletics, Luka Ekler, Jaydin Blackwell, Paralympic Games