Dan Pembroke Defends F13 Javelin Title with Superb Throw

Dan Pembroke successfully defended his F13 javelin title at the World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan. The 32-year-old won gold with a 66.96m throw, surpassing his previous best of 64.79m, celebrating joyfully. Pembroke, who also aims to retain his Paralympic title in Paris later this year, shared his thoughts on the competition: “After a long winter of training, you never quite know what to expect in your first competition, especially in a world final. The pressure can be intense but I relaxed into it by the last attempt, proving there’s more to come. My throws were consistently improving by about a meter each time, so with more competitions before Paris, I’m confident we’ll breach that 70-meter mark again.”

Pembroke’s journey to this point has been challenging. Initially trying to qualify for the London 2012 Olympics, an elbow injury halted his dreams. Dealing with retinitis pigmentosa, he paused his career to travel then returned as a Para athlete in 2019. Behind Dan Pembroke, Iran’s Ali Pirouj claimed silver with a throw of 63.15 meters while compatriot Sajad Nikparast took bronze with 62.30 meters. In other events, Briton Harrison Walsh won bronze in the F64 discus with a season-best throw of 52.48 meters. American David Blair took gold with 60.13 meters and Croatia’s Ivan Katanusic secured silver with 53.89 meters.

Mel Woods finished fourth in both the women’s T54 400m (55.33 seconds) and 1500m finals this week. Mo Jomni narrowly missed a medal in the men’s T53 800m, finishing fourth with a time of 1:46.50. Meanwhile, Hannah Cockroft and Fabienne Andre advanced to Friday’s final of the women’s T34 800m. Cockroft, aiming for her 16th World Championship title, won her heat with a championship record time of 1:54.83. Great Britain co-captain Ali Smith also progressed to the final of the women’s T38 400m after clocking 1:03.56 in her heat.