TAIPEI – Headlined by sprinter Eric Gregory's sweep of the 200m and 400m events (including course records of 21.52 seconds in the 200 and 46.78 seconds in the 400), the Americans capped off a successful showing at the 205 World Deaf Athletics Championships, which were held in Taipei from July 18-23, 2024.
Gregory's quest to sweep all three sprint events, however, came up short as the sprinter finished 0.11 seconds off the gold in the 100-meter dash, behind Gian Marco Andrade Mosquera of Colombia.
In the 4x100-meter relay event, Gregory, along with Jarvis Anderson, Gareth Ashton, and Taylor Koss, finished second to Japan with a time of 41.58 seconds, but would reverse the order with a first-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay, with a time of 3:15.77, just 0.03 ahead of Japan.
In the field events, Lian Painter took bronze in the pole vault, clearing 4.40 meters. Navar Harris finished sixth in the shot put with a 12.53 meter toss, followed by Ethan Ettienne at 12.34 meters and Jamal Garner at 12.22 meters. Garner also finished sixth in the discus throw at 37.94 meters, while Ettienne finished seventh in the hammer throw at 39.39 meters. Kenmarkis Meeks also finished eighth in the high jump at 1.75 meters.
On the women's side, 2022 Deaflympic silver medalist Oceana Brown finished fourth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.36 seconds and fifth in the 200-meter dash at 25.66 seconds. 2022 bronze medalist Hannah Wetzel finished fourth in the triple jump at 11.18 meters, seventh in the high jump at 1.58 meters, and seventh in the long jump at 5.12 meters. The Women's 4x100 relay team also finished out of medal contention with a fourth-place finish.
The team will now look to improve on their results and prepare for the 2025 Tokyo Deaflympics.
