Killarney high jumper Jordan Lee finished ninth in Tokyo after three unsuccessful attempts at 1.79.
The 20-year old cleared 1.74 in his first round but bowed out as the T47 high jump event progressed. 2016 Rio Paralympics gold medallist Roderick Townsend returned to excel once again. The American hit a world record 2.15m.
India’s Nishad Kumar was second while USA’s Dallas Wise took the bronze.
“Obviously quite disappointed with my performance. Definitely performed under the standard,” said the Irish Paralympic debutant in his post-event interview with RTE.
“It being my first Paralympic games, just have to take it on the chin and use it as a learning experience for the future. For the likes of Paris 2024, Los Angeles 2028 is when I am hoping to reach my prime.”
Jordan Lee says he'll use Tokyo as a learning experience for future Paralympics after missing out on a medal in the High Jump final#rtesport #paralympics #paraathletics
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“I know I am the type of person that is really hard on myself. Really, really hard on myself.
“But I am going to give myself a bit of props for once even though it didn’t go my way. I have only been training in the sport of high jump for the past three and a half years. In those three and a half years, I have jumped 9,090 metres to be exact, which is over the height of Mount Everest.
I have lifted a combined weight of 200,012kg which is six Boeing aircrafts among some other crazy stats as well.
“Myself and my coach Tomas have worked tirelessly hard to get to where we are today.”
