NEW DELHI: Nishad Kumar finally broke the jinx, winning his maiden world title — after a series of second-placed finishes — in style with a new Asian record of 2.14m on a productive Day Seven of the World Para Athletics Championships here on Friday. On the track, Simran Sharma retained her title in the 100m T12 with a new personal best of 11.95 seconds.
Nishad, runner-up in the High Jump T47 at the Tokyo and Paris Paralympics and the last two World Championships in 2023 and 2024, looked assured every time he took off and had little trouble clearing all the pre-set marks in his first attempt itself. Once the gold was assured, he aimed for the world record but faltered at 2.18m.
In the process, he finally got the better of three-time world and paralympic champion Roderick Townsend of USA, who started at 2.03m but that was the only mark he cleared here to finish 3rd behind Turkey’s Abdullah Ilgaz.
Simran, meanwhile, had little competition improving on her PB, going under the 12-second mark for the first time. Running with a new guide in Umar Saifi, in their first international competition together, Simran became India’s sixth gold and 15th medalist overall in the ongoing competition. Agencies
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