Broom-Edwards wins third successive world title

Britain’s Jonathan Broom-Edwards made it three high jump titles in a row at the Para Athletics World Championships in Kobe.

Broom-Edwards, the 2019 world gold medallist and Paralympic champion, shared gold at last year’s Worlds in Paris with Poland's Maciej Lepiato.

In Japan the 35-year-old's first-time clearance at 2.04m was enough for gold.

Silver went to USA’s former American football player Derek Loccident, who lost the lower part of his leg in a train accident in 2019 and who cleared 2.04 at the third time of asking for a new personal best.

Lepiato, who failed three times at 2.04, took bronze and, when Broom-Edwards and Loccident could not clear 2.07, the title went to Broom-Edwards on countback.

"We set out a plan and we put it into motion, and we ticked all the boxes," he said.

"There is still a lot to work on with the performance even though it is early in the season.

"I am so happy with how the competition went. My body is battered now; I think I celebrated a bit too hard on the 2.04m clearance.

"It is so good to see so many new faces in the competition. The field was stacked and it is amazing to see the sport is evolving and see the young whipper-snappers coming up and teaching us old dogs how to do it."

Paralympic champion Thomas Young won silver in the T38 100m final.

Injury forced Young to pull out of the 2022 Commonwealth Games and hampered his 2023 when he finished seventh at the Worlds.

He clocked 11.02 seconds as American Jaydin Blackwell won in a championship record 10.86.

"I would have loved to have got the win, but we have got Paris (2024 Paralympics) in a couple of months’ time so that is the main focus," said Young.

"The race felt OK. The start was OK, the middle could have been better, but my finish was strong. The T38 class is so strong right now, so to be involved in the medals is incredible."

Zac Shaw won bronze in the T12 100m final for the second Worlds in a row in a season’s best of 10.97, behind Turkey’s Serkan Yildirim (10.53) and American Noah Malone (10.55).