Will Stedman on the long jump runway in New Delhi. Photo: Athletics NZ
New Zealand wrapped up the World Para Athletics Championships with seven medals, after Will Stedman and Anna Grimaldi had podium finishes on the final day in New Delhi.
Stedman claimed a silver in the men's long jump T36 final, while Grimaldi won bronze in the women's 200M T47 final.
It was Stedman's third successive silver medal in the long jump at world champs, after his second-placed finishes in Paris (2023) and Kobe (2024). He also won silver in the event at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021.
The versatile athlete also won gold in the 400m T36 in Kobe, after a silver in Paris, and added a bronze in that event to his tally in New Delhi.
In the long jump, his consistency stood out, with leaps of 5.80m, 5.79m, 5.81m and two of 5.83m - all of them beyond the former championship record of 4.75m, but he had to bow to the superiority of Russian Evgnii Torsunov.
Torsunov, competing as a neutral athlete at these championships, equalled his only world record of 6.05m in round one and then smashed it with 6.14m in round four.
Stedman's best was just 2cm better than that of bronze medallist Oleksandr Lytvynenko of Ukraine.
Grimaldi, who missed out on the medals in the 100m final by one one-thousandth of a second, had better fortune in the 200m final.
Her third-place effort came in a time of 24.82secs, denying rising star 16-year-old Marie Ngoussou-Ngouyi of France a medal. Ngoussou-Ngouyi had cut Grimaldi out of bronze in the 100m.
It was the Kiwi's best effort this season.
Kiara Rodriguez of Ecuador won the gold medal, her third at the championships after winning the 100m T47 and long jump T47. She claimed a new world record in the 200m.
Mitch Joynt finished sixth in the 200m T64 final, after earlier in the day bettering his New Zealand and Oceania record in the heats, with a time of 22.98sec.
New Zealand finished 21st on the medal table, with three golds, one silver and three bronzes.
Lisa Adams won the F37 shot put and Danielle Aitchison got two golds - in the T36 100m and 200m; Stedman got silver and bronze; while Grimaldi and Holly Robinson (F46 shot put) also won bronze medals.
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