World Para Athletics Championships: Jonathan Broom-Edwards retains title with shared gold

Broom-Edwards has competed at two Paralympics for Great Britain

Britain's Jonathan Broom-Edwards and Polish rival Maciej Lepiato shared high jump gold on a dramatic evening of action at the Para Athletics World Championships in Paris.

The pair both failed to clear 2.07m in the T64 final for athletes with lower limb impairments.

However, they had first-time clearances all the way up to 2.05m.

Officials gave the pair the option of a jump-off, but they instead opted to share the title.

"We have been rivals for so many years," Broom-Edwards, the defending world champion, told BBC Sport. "Maciej is an amazing athlete and we have both come back from Achilles ruptures - it's almost poetic.

"I don't mind that I am sharing a gold with someone who has pushed me to be better throughout my career and I will turn it up for next year's Paralympics because that is the one that counts."

The competition's conclusion brought back memories of the Olympic high jump final in Tokyo two years ago when Qatar's Mutaz Barshim and Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi also shared gold.

• Tokyo Olympics: 'Can we have two golds?'

This gold was particularly sweet for Tokyo Paralympic champion Broom-Edwards, who tore his hamstring eight weeks ago.

"Considering my season so far and the fact that this is my first competition of the year, it is fantastic to retain my title," added the 35-year-old.

"I felt I had the height in me but it was a shame to miss my first attempt at 2.07 and I jarred my knee on the second, but in the end I have done what I came here to do."

Visually impaired sprinter Zac Shaw and wheelchair racer Danny Sidbury won their first global medals with bronzes to add to the GB tally.

Shaw, 27, finished the T12 100m in a personal best of 10.85 seconds - just 0.01 seconds behind silver medallist Mouncef Bouja of Morocco with American Noah Malone a clear winner (10.53).

Shaw has been on the GB squad since 2015 but narrowly missed out on selection for both the Rio Paralympics in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021, which he admits still hurts.

"To come here and be on the podium and prove to people and to myself that I can win a medal on the world stage means a lot," he said.

Sidbury finished third in the T54 5,000m, won emphatically by Switzerland's Marcel Hug in a championship record of nine minutes 35.78 seconds.

Londoner Sidbury moved into a good position at the bell, and although Thailand's Prawat Wahoram was too strong and took silver, the 29-year-old Briton was rewarded when he held off the challenge of Kuwait's Faisal Alrajehi.

"To be able to compete at this level is incredibly difficult and incredibly challenging but I like a good challenge," said Sidbury, who clocked 10:15.44.

"I am in good company on the podium and hopefully this is a stepping stone to greater things.

"It was important to go out aggressive if I wanted to be on the podium. With this world-class field you have to concentrate and be on your A-game because it is fine margins that separate second from fifth."