Skiba wins lone USA medal on day six of World Championships

“You can’t be unhappy with a medal, but this definitely makes me hungry for gold in London.”

It was a quiet day for Team USA at QEII Park as Jeff Skiba leapt 1.96 meters to win silver in the men’s high jump (F44) and earn the lone USA medal on day six of the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships.

Skiba is the defending Paralympic gold medalist and two-time defending world champion in the high jump, but he was not disappointed with his second place finish in Christchurch.

“You can’t be unhappy with a medal, but this definitely makes me hungry for gold in London,” said Skiba, who works full-time as a police officer in addition to his full training schedule. “Given that this is the first major competition I’ve prepared for while having to balance work and training, this is an excellent result and I’m very happy.”

In a non-medal event, the U.S. women’s 4x400m relay team of Tatyana McFadden(Clarksville, Md.), Jessica Galli(Hillsborough, N.J.), Shirley Reilly (Tucson, Ariz.) and Anjali Forber-Pratt (Natick, Mass.) finished second with a new Americas record time of 3:57.39.

“It’s always a lot of fun and exciting to be out there on the track with my teammates,” said Forber-Pratt, who ran the anchor leg. “It wasn’t as fast as we were hoping for, but it was a valiant effort on all of our parts.”

Other notable performances included Markeith Price (Nashville, Tenn.) finishing just off the medal stand in fourth place in the men’s 200m (T13) in 23.68, a top-5 finish and a new personal best throw of 22.59 meters for Carlos Leon (North Lauderdale, Florida) in the men’s discus (F51/52/53) and Brian Siemann (Millstone, N.J.) advancing to the finals of the men’s 400m (T53) with a season’s best time of 53.16.

Team USA has won 24 total medals to-date, which includes 6 gold, 7 silver and 11 bronze.