Team South Africa clinches four medals at World Para Athletics Championships

Team South Africa is returning home with a total of four medals from the World Para Athletics Championships held in New Delhi, India, from September 27 to October 5.

READ: Team SA aims for glory with five-strong squad at World Para Athletics Championships

South Africa sent a contingent of five athletes to the global competition. On the final day of the championships, Puseletso Mabote and Simone Kruger both clinched gold medals, elevating South Africa's final tally.

Their victories followed earlier bronze medals secured by Sheryl James and Collen Mahlalela.

How They Performed

PUSELETSO MABOTE: DOUBLE-DIPPING ON CHAMPIONSHIP RECORDS

Puseletso Mabote secured Team South Africa's first gold medal of the World Para Athletics Championships, winning the Men’s 100m T63 final in a time of 12.03 seconds, which set a new Championship Record.

The T63 classification is for runners who have moderately affected movement in one leg or who have the absence of limbs above the knee.

Mabote had already broken the Championship Record in the heats of the Men's T63 100m on Sunday with a time of 12.06 seconds, qualifying him fastest for the final.

He went even faster in the final, stopping the clock at 12.03 seconds to take gold and set a new Championship Record.

Mabote's career has seen a steady rise in international competition. He previously won silver for South Africa in the Men’s 100m T63 final at the Kobe Para Athletics World Championships, where he also set a new African record in the long jump.

Furthermore, he set a new world record in the Men's 100m T63 final at the World Para Athletics Junior Championships.

At his debut at the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2021, he set the Men’s 100m T63 African record and a new personal best time of 12.64 seconds.

SIMONÉ KRUGER: WORLD CHAMPION AGAIN IN DISCUS

Simoné Kruger successfully defended her world title in the Women’s Discus F38, striking gold with a massive season’s best throw of 37.39m on her fourth attempt.

Kruger's victory secured Team SA’s second gold medal at the Para World Championships.

The Paralympic gold medalist is a consistent top performer in discus and shot put, often setting new records or personal bests.

Kruger has had an exceptional year. In May 2024, she won South Africa's second gold medal and broke the world record in the women's discus with a throw of 38.82m at the Kobe 2024 World Para Athletics Championships in Japan.

Later that year, at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games, Kruger competed in the Women's F38 discus, where she broke the Paralympic Record and won South Africa's second gold medal with a throw of 38.70m.

SHERYL JAMES: ANOTHER PODIUM FINISH

Sheryl James won a bronze medal in the women's T37 400m final in 1:06.21 while teammate Liezel Gouws clocked a season’s best to finish 5th in the same final.

James previously won a silver and a bronze medal at the Dubai 2024 World Para Athletics Grand Prix. The Paralympian, who took up sprinting at the age of 32, won a bronze medal in the women's 400m T37 at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, which was Team SA's fifth medal.

COLLEN MAHLALELA: PERSONAL BEST SECURES BRONZE

Collen Mahlalela stormed to third place in the Men’s 400m T47 final, clocking a personal best of 48.04s.

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

Mahlalela began his Para sports career in 2021 and debuted at his first World Championships in 2024 in Kobe, Japan, where he won a silver medal in the 400m T47.

The Paralympian, who hails from the village of Mthatha in Enkomazi, Mpumalanga, also competed at the Dubai 2024 World Para Athletics Grand Prix, where he bagged a silver in the men’s 400m and a bronze in the men’s long jump T47.

LIEZEL GOUWS: DOUBLE PERSONAL BESTS

Liezel Gouws ran her personal best in the women's T37 200m heats, and she went even faster, setting another PB, in the final, where she finished sixth in 29.50.

T37 is a disability sport classification for track and field events for athletes with coordination impairments such as hypertonia, ataxia, and athetosis.

Gouws won Team SA's first medal, a bronze, at the Kobe 2024 Para Athletics World Championships. Gouws made her international debut in 2013 and went on to break the world record in the 800m T37 women’s competition in both 2015 and 2018.