New Delhi: Brazil’s Antonia Keyla Da Silva Barros broke a long-standing women’s 1500m T20 World Record in winning gold in 4 minutes 19.22 seconds in the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships here on Thursday. Her win tasted sweeter as she beat six-time metric mile World Champion Barbara Bieganowska-Zajac (Poland).
She knew Barbara Bieganowska-Zajac, who set the World Record in 2012 and has won three Paralympic Games gold medals over the distance, has a devastating kick and built a big lead before the final lap. Her brave running helped her complete her transition from being a guide runner for fellow Brazilian Edneusa de Jesus Santos Dorta in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
With Wanna Brito Oliveria also winning the women’s Shot Put F32 gold with a World Record, Brazil’s cup of joy was overflowing as it cemented its place at the top of the medal table with 12 gold, 16 silver, and 7 bronze, leaving China (8-10-9) with a stiff challenge over the next three days.
However, it was Catherine Debrunner (Switzerland) who emerged as the undisputed individual star of New Delhi 2025 by claiming her fourth gold medal in as many starts. The versatile athlete has won in track events ranging from 100m to 5000m. She won the 100m T53 on Thursday night with a Championships record to add to her 800m T53, 1500 m T54, and 5000m T54 victories.
For India, Paris 2024 Paralympic Games champion Dharambir Nain, 36, and Atul Kaushik, 29, added a silver and a bronze medal respectively to India’s kitty, but, without a gold medal in two days, the home team slipped to the seventh place on the table with 4 gold, 5 silver, and 2 bronze medals from the fourth spot overnight.
Italy and Switzerland won their fifth gold medal each on Thursday, and Karen T Palomeque M claimed the women’s 200m T38 gold to help Colombia edge into sixth place with more silver medals than India. Brazil ensconced itself at the top with 12 gold, 16 silver, and 7 bronze medals ahead of China (8-10-9) and Poland (5-1-1) after six days of competition.
For a while, Dharambir placed himself in the lead with a best throw of 29.71m on his final try, but Serbia’s Aleksandar Radisic opened with a 30.36m effort to edge ahead of Dharambir Nain. Pranav Soorma, who was a silver medalist in Paris 2024, finished fifth in the nine-athlete competition in which the Indians were expected to dominate again.
Atul Kaushik had to endure a long and agonising wait before his bronze medal was confirmed. Uzbekistan’s Yorkinbek Odilov, who was drawn to throw last, produced a 45.05m effort on his fifth try and sent a bigger final throw out of the sector. The 29-year-old Indian and his supporters could heave a sigh of relief that a podium place was assured at last.
Earlier, for the second time on Thursday, an Indian finished fourth after having raised hopes of winning a medal. After Haney in the men’s Discus Throw F37 in the morning, it was Dilip Mahadu Gavit’s turn to leave the arena disappointed – and perhaps distraught – at not being able to hold on to a medal position.
The 22-year-old Gavit had gained an advantage at the halfway stage but was unable to sustain his pace either on the second bend on the home straight and had to settle for fourth place, clocking 48.61 seconds. When he analyses his race, he will find that the four quarters took him 11.55 seconds, 10.85 seconds, 12.34 seconds, and 13.87 seconds respectively.
The men’s Long Jump T64 and men’s Shot Put F46 finals were moved from the evening’s schedule after a rain interruption impacted the evening’s programme. To the credit of the organisers, the men’s Discus Throw T57 and men’s Club Throw F51 finals resumed after the break and were completed.
(IANS)
