Costa Rican Sherman Guity easily won the 100m T64 final in para-athletics at the Paris Paralympic Games on Monday evening, setting a new Paralympic record for the distance in 10.65 seconds.
Guity finished ahead of Italian world champion Maxcel Amo Manu (10.76) and German Felix Streng, bronze medallist in 10.77, at the end of the straight.
“This result makes me very happy. I didn’t expect it, I was competing against very strong athletes. But it was a Paralympic final and I gave it my all.”confided Guity, crowned at 27 years old in the main sprint distance in para-athletics, in which athletes with below-the-knee amputations and prostheses line up.
In the T63 category, for athletes with above-the-knee amputations, it was the young American Ezra Frech who won the first Paralympic title of his career, winning in 12.06/100, the best performance of his young career.
The Californian, already fifth in the long jump competition, is also registered for the high jump, scheduled for Tuesday, his favorite discipline.
This 100m, he said, he approached it “like a warm-up for the high jump.” “Go out, get the blood flowing, have a good race and come back tomorrow (Tuesday) to win the high jump,” he explained afterwards. “But at 50m, I was like ‘wow’, I had a good start, I had done everything well,” he added. “This gold medal makes me happy, but I’m not satisfied, I’m still hungry. Tomorrow night I’ll go for the gold in the high jump” he promised.
