World Para Athletics Championships 2025: Nishad Kumar jumps for joy in golden birthday!
In the seven years he’s competed at the senior world level, Nishad Kumar might have cemented his place as one of India’s top para athletes, but he’d never really become top dog.
Competing in the T47 category (with a limb deficiency, such as a below-elbow or wrist amputation, and normal leg function) of the men’s high jump, Nishad had won silver at the 2024 and 2020 Paralympics, and at the 2023 and 2024 World Championships. He also has a bronze from the 2019 Worlds. In each of these competitions, he had to watch Roderick Townsend of the USA coast to gold.
On Friday at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, though, Nishad finally stepped on the top of a world podium. The 26-year-old cleared a height of 2.14m to win gold at the Para Athletics Worlds, celebrating his birthday in the best possible fashion. His nemesis, Townsend, took bronze with 2.03m.
“I have been waiting for this day for a long time, working hard for each and every minute. Today was finally that day, and I didn’t want to miss it,” Nishad said, still visibly emotional after his winning jump. “I have given my best, and it’s God’s will. No one can stop me.”
Townsend, five-time World champion and two-time Paralympic high jump (and four-time overall) gold medallist, started strongly, opening with an easy clearance at 2.03m to go to the top of the leaderboard. But then he faltered. A failed attempt at 2.06m was followed by two failed attempts at 2.08m, ending his competition.
Meanwhile, Nishad, who started at a modest 1.94m, steadily kept increasing the height of the bar. He cleared 2.06m in his first attempt and then cleared 2.08m to go ahead of Townsend. While the big favourite was out of the competition, it was Turkey’s Abdullah Ilgaz who turned out to the surprising challenger.
Ilgaz had come into the competition having never cleared 2m, but now matched Nishad jump for jump. He cleared 2.08m too to set a new European record. But that was the high point of his evening as Nishad kept pulling ahead.
A successful jump at 2.10m for the Indian, coupled with three failures for Ilgaz, assured Nishad of a historic gold. But he wasn’t done. He raised the bar to 2.14 and cleared it. Up next was Townsend’s world record of 2.16m, set in 2023.
Nishad could have taken a modest increase on the record. As the last man standing in the competition, the bar could have been set at 2.17m. Even that height was steep enough for Nishad whose heavily strapped left knee was proof of an injury that he suffered just a few days before the competition.
But it wasn’t enough for him to just eclipse the record. He had the bar raised to 2.18m – a potential big, new world record!
That’s just how Nishad is. Although he might not have had until this evening the gold medal to show for it, Nishad has always had the heart of a champion. Despite losing part of his right arm in a farm accident when he was 7, Nishad, motivated by his mother, a State-level volleyball player, had always been interested in sports. He had always tested himself against the best. Even after he became a Paralympic silver medallist in Tokyo, he would continue to compete against able-bodied athletes – nearly making the podium (before eventually finishing 5th ) at the 2022 National Games in Gujarat.
Before the Para World Championships in Delhi, Nishad had been told by his American coach Jeremy Fischer to try and go for 2.17m. Townsend, who graciously came to support Nishad after his own competition had ended, also said the same.
Nishad Kumar in action at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
| Photo Credit:
Marcus Brandt/Getty Images
Nishad Kumar in action at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
| Photo Credit:
Marcus Brandt/Getty Images
“Coach told me to just get the record. Townsend also told me to just go for 2.17m. He told me you got this. Just get the record. But I wanted 2.18m,” Nishad would say after the competition.
The bar was set at that height, and perhaps another time, Nishad might have cleared that height. But on Friday, having already made seven jumps, he was starting to get tired in the humid New Delhi evening. His first attempt was a bad miss. The next attempt, though, nearly made history. “In my second attempt, I put in all my effort. I almost got the height, but I hit the bar on the way down. After that, I was exhausted. I made a third attempt, but this time I just wasn’t able to get any power,” he says.
The new record might have been missed but Nishad still has the gold medal to show for his efforts for the day. But one gold medal isn’t going to satisfy him. “I have a number in my mind. I still haven’t achieved it. So, I have a lot more motivation in me. Before today I had won the silver medal and had the hunger for a gold medal. I might have won the gold medal but I don’t think that hunger has gone anywhere, ” he says.
Published on Oct 04, 2025