Deja Young became the world record holder in the women's 100-meter T47 at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Deja Young (Mesquite, Texas) stole the show on Monday at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships, setting a world record of 11.92 seconds in the women’s 100-meter T47 at the Dubai Club for People of Determination.
Fastest in the world - Deja Young (Mesquite, Texas) made her presence known on the track during the preliminary round of the 100, setting a world record with a time of 11.92. The final for the event will be held Tuesday evening local time, where Young will be joined by teammate Brittni Mason (Cleveland, Ohio) to race for the top of the podium.
Jump Around - Following six jumps a piece, Roderick Townsend (Louisville, Kentucky) and Tobi Fawehinmi (Arlington, Texas) won the long jump T47 silver and bronze medals with jumps measuring to 7.27 and 7.17, respectively. Townsend and Fawehinmi were sitting in first and second place until Hao Wang of China jumped .02 further than Townsend on the final attempt.
Silver for Scot Severn - Upon protest of results of the men’s shot put F53 and review of the competition footage from Saturday, previously-fouled throws were included in the results. Team USA’s Scot Severn (Caro, Michigan), who was awarded the gold medal, was relegated to silver with an amended mark of 7.77, with the gold medal given to Ales Kisy of the Czech Republic for his throw of 7.93.
Team USA Results from Nov. 11
3 medals: 1 silver, 2 bronzes
Silver: Roderick Townsend (Louisville, Ky.), men’s long jump T47 (7.27)
Bronze: Tobi Fawehinmi (Arlington, Texas), men’s long jump T47 (7.17); Amanda McGrory (Kennett Square, Pa.), women’s 1500 T54 (3:34.32).
Full results can be found on the World Para Athletics Championships website.
Quotes
Roderick Townsend
“First off, I’m extremely grateful for having another opportunity to represent our country and have another day where I’m healthy and making the best of every opportunity. I’m always going to be grateful and thankful for that. With that being said, I know the performance could have been a lot better and know that going into 2020, I’m definitely reevaluating a lot of things.
“This is my third meet of the season. I’ve spent so much time back training with my coach, just moved to Louisville and so much going on, so sadly, I haven’t been able to compete as much as I would like to. It was a sacrifice that I did have to make and I do think I'm getting better because of it. I think that my performance didn’t truly show where I'm at. At the end of the day, we all came out and tried our hardest and dealt with the same circumstances and I'm extremely happy for everyone being able to finish today healthy and happy. I’m ready for next year.”
Deja Young
“I was really nervous and I was shaking. I’ve been doing this for four years and I still get nervous like it’s my first race every single time. I always feel so humbled being here because there are so many athletes here trying as hard as me and doing everything they can. I’m grateful. I was not expecting this at all and never imagined something like this would happen in the first round.
“At the start, I was literally hyperventilating. I was like, ‘You know what? I got this. It’s okay.’ It’s been hard. I’ve been through so much - a car accident, a suicide attempt. It’s not real. I’ve cried so many nights thinking, ‘Why am I still doing this?’ To know that everything is paying off and I’m trusting the process and being me. It’s makes me overwhelmed.”
Looking Forward
Scout Bassett (Harbor Springs, Michigan) and Lacey Henderson (Denver, Colorado) open competition at the world championships in the women’s long jump T63 finals, while six athletes will look to add another 2019 world championships medal to their resumes.
How to Watch
Team USA fans can catch all the action of the World Para Athletics Championships on the Olympic Channel. Every evening session will be aired on Olympic Channel, while fans can stream morning sessions at OlympicChannel.com. The full schedule can be found on OlympicChannel.com.
Get Connected
For updates throughout the event, follow U.S. Paralympics Track & Field on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
