Noah Malone, a Hamilton Southeaster graduate, won his first-ever Paralympic medal on Sunday, placing second in the men’s T12 100-meter dash.
Malone finished in 10.66 seconds, just behind Salum Ageze Kashafali (Norway), who set a world record by finishing in 10.43 seconds. Roman Tarasov (RPC) finished third in 10.88 seconds.
“It’s a huge honor, you know? Just for comparison here, at the Dubai world championships I didn’t even make the finals, period. A silver medal at the Paralympic Games is a huge honor. Great experience too, great volunteers, teammates, everybody is so cool here. I can’t ask for more. I’m a freshman in college, sophomore now, I can’t ask for more. Great experience,” Malone said.
Malone, now at Indiana State, is currently competing in the T12 400-meter race. On Tuesday, Malone won his heat in the 400, finishing in a time of 48.50 seconds. He will now compete in the finals on Thursday.
In 2015, Malone was diagnosed with leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy, which eliminated half of his vision. He had to leave his high school basketball team but remained on the track team and began training for the Paralympic games after officials contacted him in 2017.