Dominant. That's the best word to define Praveen Kumar's gold medal in the men's T64 high jump at the Paris Paralympics 2024. Just take this fact, for instance: Praveen cleared his seven heights in a single jump. Heights of 1.89m, 1.93m, 1.97m, 2.00m, 2.03m, 2.06m and 2.08m, all in one go. Dominant, capital D. By the time he experienced his first failure in the final -- 2.10m -- he had already won the gold medal.
PARALYMPICS 2024 KEY DATES | EVERY MEDAL WON BY INDIA AT THE PARALYMPICS | PARALYMPIC CLASSIFICATIONS EXPLAINED
At just 21, he is now a double Paralympic medalist. He wiped the floor with the competition to win this gold, an upgrade on the silver he won in Tokyo. This was India's sixth gold at these Games and the tally now reads 26 medals. USA's Derek Loccident took the silver while the bronze was shared between Uzbekistan's Giyazov Temurbek and Poland's Maciej Lepiato.
But the competition wasn't even close. The 2.08m height that Praveen cleared is the new Asian record and improves his personal best (from 2.07m).
Considering his pedigree and his previous Paralympics performance, Praveen was always in the mix for the medal in the event. However, just this year he had finished fourth at the World Championships with a best clearance of 1.94m. He had improved his season's best to 2.05m but the kind of dominance he showed on Friday was surprising to say the least considering the field he was in: one that included Tokyo gold medallist Jonathan Broom-Edwards of Great Britain and bronze winner Maciej.
Broom-Edwards couldn't repeat his Tokyo showing and finished fifth with a best jump of 1.89m. Meanwhile, both Giyazov and Loccident came up with new personal best jumps but still couldn't topple Praveen.
In a way, though, it's not surprising either. That's because since his entry into the sport, Praveen has always been seen as a hugely talented athlete capable of breaking records. At Tokyo, he became India's youngest para-athlete to win a medal (with an Asian record to boot), at just 18. It's a testament to his talent because he took up the sport only in 2019 and qualified for the biggest competition in the world after a few months.
In the same year, he won the bronze medal at the Junior Para World Championship. Praveen, belonging to a village close to Noida, was born with a short leg. In sports, his first love was volleyball. "I used to play volleyball in school but gradually I got into para-athletics and took part in the high jump event. I came to know about the Paralympics through [an internet] search and found out how to reach there."
The first ever high jump event that he participated in was for able bodied athletes and Praveen quickly realised that he has an opportunity to excel in para-athletics. Training under coach Satyapal Singh, Praveen started participating in the junior competitions. It didn't take him long to make an impression in the senior events.
After the heights of the Tokyo medal, Praveen continued his rising route and won gold at the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, breaking the Games record by clearing 2.02m in the final. In 2022, he even went on to win the gold medal at the 20th National Federation Cup Junior U-20 Championship: an event for able-bodied athletes.
Considering what we have seen of Praveen through his short career, there's no doubt that he has many more years in him at the top level. At 21, he's already a legend... and is now on his way to achieve unprecedented heights.