Golden hat-trick for Debrunner

Switzerland’s Catherine Debrunner won her third gold medal at the New Delhi 2025 World Para Athletics Championships as she clinched the women’s 1500m T54 title in a new championship record.

The 30-year-old world record-holder, who had won the 800m T53 and 5000m T54, made it a New Delhi hat-trick as she led the final from start to finish. 

Crossing the line in 3:16.81, Debrunner beat defending world champion Zhou Zhaoqian in second place by six tenths of a second as Great Britain’s Melanie Woods won bronze.

“The Chinese seemed to be trying to box me in,” Debrunner said, referring to Zhou and teammate Tian Yajuan in fourth place.

“They talked a lot with each other, but it was a lot of fun.”

It was the ninth world title for Debrunner, from the village of Mettendorf, near Switzerland’s northern border with Germany.

After claiming her first Paralympic title at Tokyo 2020, Debrunner became a full-time Para athlete, winning five gold medals and a silver at Paris 2024. The medal haul has continued into these World Championships, where she will look for more glory in Thursday’s 100m and Friday’s 400m T53. 

The 100m is the only distance where Debrunner misses a gold medal, having claimed silvers in the event at the Paris 2023 World Championships as well at last year’s Paralympic Games.

“I’m still missing the world title in the 100m. Maybe I can win it tomorrow,” Debrunner said.

Italy’s Ambra Sabatini won the women’s 100m T63 gold medal, making up for an unfortunate fate that cost her a medal at Paris 2024. In the final last year, Sabatini was heading towards a second Paralympic gold medal when she stumbled and collided with her teammate Monica Contrafatto, just before the finish line.

On Wednesday, the T63 world record-holder produced an impressive comeback as she finished in 14.39, beating Indonesia’s world champion Karisma Evi Tiarani in second place by 0.26 of a second. 

Ndidikama Okoh of Great Britain took the bronze, one hundredth of a second from the silver medal time.

“I’m very happy, I needed this race to go well because I need my confidence back,” said Sabatini, who had won the event at the 2023 World Championships.

Having started her New Delhi campaign with a disappointing no mark result in the women’s long jump T63 on Tuesday, the 23-year-old said she could leave India with confidence as she shifts focus towards the next Paralympic Games.

“Now I can say I’ve come back and we’re in the start of a process to Los Angeles 2028.”

Brazil’s Jerusa Geber won her fourth consecutive world title in the women’s 100m T11. The Paralympic gold medallist and world record holder, who runs with guide Gabriel Aparecido dos Santos Garcia, produced a new championship record of 11.81 in the final, beating China’s silver medallist Liu Yiming by four hundredths of a second as Alba Garcia Falagan of Spain clinched the bronze. 

Breaking a championship record that her compatriot Terezinha Guilhermina set in 2011, the winner was one hundredth of a second outside of her own world record from last year’s Paralympic Games.

“It was very close to the world record,” Geber said.

“But we never know when the record will come as it is such a fast race. What we can control is to be well-prepared and give our best.”

Equalling Guilhermina as the Brazilian athlete with most World Championship medals – 12 in total – Geber said she is still hungry for more.

“The first goal was the fourth title,” the 43-year-old said.

“Now let’s go for the next, that is to win one more medal and leave the World Championships as the most successful Brazilian in history.”

Hungary’s Luca Ekler also claimed a four consecutive world title as she won the women’s long jump T38 final with a new T38 world record of 5.91.

Angie Nicoll Mejia Morales of Colombia took the silver with 5.42, her teammate Karen Tatiana Palomeque Moreno grabbing the bronze with 5.25.

“It was an amazing day,” Ekler said.

“I broke my world record twice and I’m reaching for the stars. I really want to jump six metres, it will be a new personal best, new world record and this is my dream. This is why I work every day and I’m happy that I took a step forward.”

World Record-holder and Paralympic champion Fleur Jong of the Netherlands made no mistake to beat a star-studded field of runners in the women’s 100m T64 final and win a third consecutive gold medal in the event. 

The smiling 29-year-old, who will go for gold in Thursday’s long jump T64, crushed the opposition in the last half of the race, coming from behind to finish in 12.29. Her teammate Marlene van Gansewinkel made it a Dutch one-two for the second World Championships in a row as Marissa Papaconstantinou of Canada settled for the bronze.

Great Britain’s Hannah Cockroft made it two gold medals in two events at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium as she added a women’s 100m T34 title to her 400m T34 gold medal from Sunday. 
Thailand’s Chaiwat Rattana has matched Cockroft in the men’s T34 events, where he won Wednesday’s close 100m final by a margin of four hundredths of a second. 

In an even closer battle for the silver medal, Rheed McCracken of Australia was three thousandths of a second ahead of Mohamad Othman from the United Arab Emirates, who had to settle for bronze.

World record-holder Wen Xiaoyan made a season’s best as she won the women’s 100m T37 final in 12.93, 0.34 of a second ahead of silver medallist Taylor Swanson from the United States.

Japan also had a successful day five at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, producing a clean podium sweep in the men’s 400m T52 final, with Sato Tomoki winning ahead of Ueyonabaru Hirokazu and Ito Tomoya. 

It is Japan’s third gold at these championships, having finished on the podium 21 times at last year’s home World Championships in Kobe but failing to make it to the top spot.

USA’s Jaydin Blackwell set a new world record en route to winning the men’s 400m T38 final – the 21-year-old’s second world title in New Delhi – while Oleksandr Yarovyi of Ukraine broke the world record in the men’s shot put F20 final with a throw of 17.73.

Para athletes representing Colombia, Iran, Latvia, Spain and Uzbekistan also won World Championships gold medals on Wednesday as Neutral Para Athletes Vladimir Sviridov, Anna Kulinich-Sorokina and Aleksandr Kostin triumphed in the men’s shot put F36, women’s 400m T12 and men’s 5000m T13 respectively.

Brazil retained their lead in the overall medal table on a total of 30 medals including eight golds, with China, adding two titles to their tally on Wednesday, in second place on a total of seven gold medals. Poland were third on 12 medals including six golds.

MEDALISTS

Women’s Javelin Throw F56 Final

Gold: Diana Krumina (Latvia)
Silver: Raissa Rocha Machado (Brazil)
Bronze: Zeinab Moradi Rashnou (Iran)

Men’s Shot Put F36 Final 

Gold: Vladimir Sviridov (NPA)
Silver: Yassine Guenichi (Tunisia)
Bronze: Alan Kokoity (NPA)

Women’s Javelin Throw F54 Final

Gold: Elham Salehi (Iran)
Silver: Alondra Salazar (Mexico)
Bronze: Rebeca Citaly Cortes (Mexico)

Women’s 1500m T54 Final 

Gold: Catherine Debrunner (Switzerland)
Silver: Zhou Zhaoqian (China)
Bronze: Melanie Woods (Great Britain)

Men’s Long Jump T13 Final 

Gold: Ivan Jose Cano Blanco (Spain)
Silver: Fukunaga Ryota (Japan)
Bronze: Vegard Dragsund Sverd (Norway)

Women’s Discus Throw F11 Final 

Gold: Xue Enhui (China)
Silver: Assunta Legnante (Italy)
Bronze: Oksana Dobrovolskaja (Lithuania)

Women’s 100m T37 Final 

Gold: Wen Xiaoyan (China)
Silver: Taylor Swanson (United States)
Bronze: Viktoriia Slanova (NPA)

Women’s Long Jump T38 Final

Gold: Luca Ekler (Hungary)
Silver: Angie Nicoll Mejia Morales (Colombia)
Bronze: Karen Tatiana Palomeque Moreno (Colombia)

Men’s Shot Put F32 Final 

Gold: Jasur Khodjaev (Uzbekistan)
Silver: Athanasios Konstantinidis (Greece)
Bronze: Mohamed Nadjib Amchi (Algeria)

Men’s 100m T34 Final 

Gold: Chaiwat Rattana (Thailand)
Silver: Rheed McCracken (Australia)
Bronze: Mohamad Othman (United Arab Emirates)

Women’s 100m T34 Final 

Gold: Hannah Cockroft (Great Britain)
Silver: Kare Adenegan (Great Britain)
Bronze: Lan Hanyu (China)

Women’s 100m T44 Final 

Gold: Victoria Jade Levitt (Great Britain)
Silver: Annie Carey (United States)
Bronze: Bebe Jackson (Great Britain)

Women’s 400m T12 Final 

Gold: Anna Kulinich-Sorokina (NPA)
Silver: Hajar Safarzadeh Ghahderijani (Iran)
Bronze: Alejandra Paola Perez Lopez (Venezuela)

Men’s 800m T20 Final 

Gold: Ndiaga Dieng (Italy)
Silver: Meshal Mahutan (Saudi Arabia)
Bronze: Mehmet Emin Egilmez (Turkiye)

Men’s 400m T52 Final 

Gold: Sato Tomoki (Japan)
Silver: Ueyonabaru Hirokazu (Japan)
Bronze: Ito Tomoya (Japan)

Men’s Shot Put F20 Final 

Gold: Oleksandr Yarovyi (Ukraine)
Silver: Maksym Koval (Ukraine)
Bronze: Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli (Malaysia)

Men’s 400m T38 Final 

Gold: Jaydin Blackwell (United States)
Silver: Jose Albeiro Ramirez Estrada (Colombia)
Bronze: Alexandros Diamantis Skourtis (Greece)

Men’s Javelin Throw F38 Final 

Gold: Jose Gregorio Lemos Rivas (Colombia)
Silver: Luis Fernando Lucumi Villegas (Colombia)
Bronze: Vladyslav Bilyi (Ukraine)

Men’s 5000m T13 Final 

Gold: Aleksandr Kostin (NPA)
Silver: Abdelhadi Boudra (Algeria)
Bronze: Jean Oliveira da Silva (Brazil)

Women’s 100m T63 Final 

Gold: Ambra Sabatini (Italy)
Silver: Karisma Evi Tiarani (Indonesia)
Bronze: Ndidikama Okoh (Great Britain)

Women’s 100m T11 Final 

Gold: Jerusa Geber (Brazil)
Silver: Liu Yiming (China)
Bronze: Alba Garcia Falagan (Spain)

Women’s 100m T64 Final 

Gold: Fleur Jong (Netherlands)
Silver: Marlene van Gansewinkel (Netherlands)
Bronze: Marissa Papaconstantinou (Canada)