American Paralympic athlete Noah Malone has won two silver medals at the 2020 Tokyo Games. The young star added to his tally on Thursday, coming second in the men’s 400m T12 final. But what is Noah Malone’s disability and what does the T12 Paralympic classification mean?
Noah Malone wins second silver at 2020 Tokyo Paralympics
American track athlete Noah Malone won silver in the men’s 400m T12 final on Thursday.
The 19-year-old ran both an American record and a personal best of 47.93s.
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Morocco’s Abdeslam Hili (47.59) took home gold in the men’s 400m T12 final. Tunisia’s Rouay Jebabli won the bronze medal.
Noah Malone also won a silver medal in the T12 100-meter dash on Sunday morning.
Malone claimed second with a time of 10.66s. Norway’s Salum Kashafali took the gold medal after sprinting to a world record time of 10.43s.
What is Noah Malone’s disability?
Noah Malone was born 13 October 13, 2001 in Silversprings, Maryland.
His parents are father Kyle Malone, and mother River Sturdivant. He also has a younger sister named Zion Malone.
Noah is an Indiana State sophomore and is the first Sycamore track & field athlete to win a Paralympic medal.
The university tweeted a message congratulating Noah for his achievements.
Noah Malone was diagnosed with Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON), a rare eye disease, at 13-years-of-age.
His mother and father took him to doctors in 8th grade after he complained that he couldn’t see the board well in class.
Noah was diagnosed with the rare condition LHON after seeing many of the US’s best doctors.
He lost half of his vision within three months of diagnosis.
What is T12 Classification in the Paralympics?
In para athletics, the prefix T stands for ‘track’.
In running, T11-13, including T12, is for athletes with some form of vision impairment.
World Para Athletics describes the T12 classification as: ‘Athletes with a T12/F12 sport class have a higher visual acuity than athletes competing in the T11/F11 sport class and/or a visual field of less than 10 degrees diameter.’
