Praveen Kumar’s golden mantra at Paris Paralympics: Target personal best, no medal thoughts

Coming into the men’s high jump T64 final at the Paris Paralympics on Friday, Praveen Kumar had only one thing in mind: go past his personal best. That was it. Medal or not, he wasn’t fussed. His coach had told him that the primary focus must be to jump higher than he ever had in an event.

As it turned out, that was more than enough for him to win India’s record-breaking sixth gold medal in Paris. While the Tokyo tally of 19 was comfortably overcome, getting past the five gold medals won three years back represents an even bigger feat.

It was made possible by a near flawless display by the 21-year-old from Noida. “My coach told me to go for my personal best irrespective of whether I get a medal or not. I improved my personal best by one centimetre and I was really aiming for a 2.10m jump, but that I couldn’t manage. But I am happy now with the gold,” Praveen said after clinching India’s 26th medal in Paris.

🥈 – Tokyo

Inching towards 🥇 in #Paris2024 🥳

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Praveen, on paper, perhaps came with an outside shot at a medal. Of course, he was the silver medallist in Tokyo as well, and had a personal best of 2.07m, so that was going to keep him in the mix. But at the Kobe 2024 Para Athletics World Championships in May, he had finished fourth, managing just a clearance of 1.94m. He had three missed clearances at 2.01m. He revealed later that he had suffered an injury about three months ago, which prevented him from going full tilt.

The six-man final in Paris also had the three men who had finished on the podium at the Worlds. Jonathan Broom-Edwards of Great Britain, the defending Paralympic and World Champion, had won gold in Kobe with 2.04. Derek Loccident had also cleared that height and was the silver medallist, while bronze medal winner Maciej Epiato, a decorated Paralympian from Poland, was also a serious contender.

Dialled in

But Praveen looked dialled in from the moment he began his event. He was the last one to start jumping, starting with a first-time clearance of 1.89m. It was at that height where Broom-Edwards’ title defence would come to an end, as he struggled to clear anything after that. Suddenly, one of the title contenders was out of the picture. While Loccident, Epiato and Temurbek Giyazov all had at least one failed attempt by the time the bar was raised to 2.03m, Praveen kept clearing the heights in the first go. He did so with clinical precision, and barely displayed any emotion. Run, jump, bounce back off the bed, walk away to the bench… rinse and repeat..

The first real display of emotion came when he cleared 2.06m – once more in the first try – as he stood up and pumped his fists, taking a solitary lead. He was just one centimetre away from his previous personal best and he had gotten here with ridiculous ease, while the rest of the field started to fall behind. Then came the big one at 2.08. For a new PB and Asian record. “I just closed my eyes and the images of my parents came in front of me. My coach’s too,” he’d say later.

With yet another perfectly timed take off, Praveen cleared 2.08m with his first attempt and let out the biggest roar. Even before this jump, he was assured of a place in the top two, but once he set a new area record, he was favourite for the gold. Loccident would skip 2.08 after one miss, and then miss twice at 2.10. And India had a new champion.

“At the World Championships, where I finished fourth, I had an injury on my take off leg so I couldn’t get the desired results. I told my coach and we got an MRI done. We found out there was a 1mm gap in the ankle,” Praveen said. “We immediately addressed the injury and got it sorted in 15 days. After that we focussed on my take off and consistency. We wanted all the jumps till 2.00-2.05m to be perfect, ek bhi miss nahi karna chahiye. Before the Paralympics I pulled off 2.08 and 2.10m jumps at practice sessions too. And today I could manage a 2.08m. I had told my coach that I would get 2.10 at any cost but I just nudged the bar,” he added.

Praveen’s three attempts at 2.10m were all close calls. He knew by then that he was the gold medallist, but he wanted that extra centimetres. As he missed it one final time, he spent a few minutes on his back on the bed, disappointed with the outcome. But as he stood up, the celebrations began. It started to sink in. He jumped higher than ever before in his life… and had just become India’s latest Paralympic champion.

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