Former 'Survivor' Contestant Wins Silver At Paralympics, US Teammate Wins Gold | EUROtoday

American observe athletes Jaydin Blackwell and Ryan Medrano went 1-2 for Team USA on the Paris Paralympics on Saturday.

Medrano, a “Survivor” alum, completed the lads's 100-meter T38 closing in 10.97 seconds, whereas Blackwell broke the world document in a blistering 10.64 seconds and gained gold.

Colombian athlete Juan Alejandro Campas Sánchez nabbed a bronze behind the 2 Americans.

Medrano stated competing in opposition to Blackwell motivated him.

“Having Jaydin running like lightning, that's helped me push myself that much faster,” Medrano advised USA Today. “I want to eventually catch him. He's a 10.64, so I'm going to have to train a lot — slim down because I'm at 210 pounds right now. So I'm doing my best, but having them on the team has really pushed me to develop as best as I can.”

Medrano and Blackwell will face off once more in one other Paralympic T38 occasion, the lads's 400 meters, and Medrano will even compete within the males's lengthy leap. The T38 classification is for observe athletes with coordination impairments, together with hypertonia, ataxia and athetosis.

Medrano, who completed ninth within the forty third season of “Survivor,” was born with gentle cerebral palsy. He competed alongside fellow US Paralympic observe athlete Noelle Lambert on his season of the present and credit her for getting him into para sports activities.

Lambert will compete within the lengthy leap and the 100-meter dash in Paris.

Becoming a para athlete has been life-changing, Medrano advised the Texas Standard final week.

“Before the Paralympic or the para track and field world, I really didn't know as much about my disability, and I kind of shied away from it, because it made me, when I was younger, bullied, and it made life a little bit harder. So I tried to be as normal as possible,” he stated.

“But by being part of this community and learning more about myself and learning more about others and learning that I'm not the only one that … feels pain or gets headaches while pushing too hard, or experiences these CP problems. It really has allowed me to accept more of myself and try to become a better version of myself.”