Jarryd Wallace

Wallace first broke onto the scene at the 2011 Parapan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, when he won the men’s 100m T44 in 11.31 seconds, a time that would have been good enough to win gold at the 2011 World Championships.

Apart from the fast time, what made Wallace’s performance so spectacular was that it came just 17 months after his lower right leg had been amputated due to compartment syndrome.

Before his diagnosis, Wallace was an accomplished 800m runner and had been offered a scholarship to race for the University of Georgia.

He made his Paralympic debut at London 2012 finishing sixth in the men’s 400m T44; he also raced as part of the US team that was disqualified in the 4x100m T42-46 relay.

At the 2013 World Championships in Lyon, France, he came of age winning two gold medals and smashing three world records. For his achievements, he was named Male Para athlete of the Year by USA Track & Field.

On his way to gold in the 200m T44, the Athens-born native smashed the world record both in qualifying and in the final, lowering the time to 22.08.

Alongside teammates Jerome Singleton, Richard Browne and Blake Leeper, Wallace was part of the 4x100m T42-46 relay team that also won gold and smashed the world record in a blistering 40.73.

At the Parapan Am Games in 2015, Wallace made his mark once again, this time in the men’s 100m T44, where he smashed the world record previously held by Browne to take gold in Canada in a time of 10.71.

Browne had been absent from the Parapan Am Games due to the birth of his son, but the World Championships in Doha, Qatar, two months later promised to be a thriller.

However, shortly before the Championships began Wallace withdrew; Browne took the tape and the 100m crown, breaking Wallace’s world record in the process.

In 2016 Wallace was back and seemingly ready challenge the likes of Browne and Great Britain’s Paralympic champion Jonnie Peacock for the top spot in Rio.

Throughout the year the American had been in superb form, consistently clocking under 11 seconds. However, at the Rio 2016 Paralympics he ran 11.16, one of his slowest times of the year, to finish fifth in the 100m T44 final. To add to his misery, Wallace and his teammates were disqualified from the men’s sprint relay.

Despite arriving at his second Paralympics as a strong favourite for 100m T44 gold, Wallace failed to medal.

However, the American was determined to put that disappointment behind him - and he did just that, sitting top of the 2017 world rankings in the 200m T44 for much of the year before claiming 200m T44 gold at London 2017 in 22.37. He also won bronze in the 100m T44 in 10.95.