PARIS, France — Noah Malone has another Paralympics gold medal!
The Hamilton Southeastern High School grad had his silver medal in the 100-meter T12 upgraded Tuesday after the race winner was disqualified.
Serkan Yildrim of Turkey edged Malone by .01 seconds in Saturday's race in Paris, but he was disqualified in a decision by World Para Athletics on Tuesday, giving Malone his first individual gold medal in his second Paralympic Games.
A judge granted Yildrim an injunction to compete in the 100-meter T12 race on Aug. 30, despite the WPA's earlier ruling that he was ineligible to participate.
"Under both the WPA classification rules and the WPA qualification regulations for Paris 2024 an athlete with a Sport Class Status ‘Review’, such as Mr Yildirim, is not eligible to compete," the WPA said in a statement to U.S. Paralympics Track & Field.
WPA allowed Yildrim to compete in Saturday's race, "solely in order to comply with the court order," but later won an appeal against the judge's injunction that allowed Yildrim to compete, resulting in the decision to disqualify the Turkish runner's result.
Malone, who won two silver medals in the Tokyo Paralympics, including the 100-meter T12, will receive his gold medal in a ceremony at Stáde de France. The date and time for the ceremony has not yet been set.
“We are so proud of not only Noah’s performance in his 100-meter event, but also the way he has composed himself throughout this entire Games,” Sherrice Fox, director, U.S. Paralympics Track & Field, said in a statement. “He has displayed the utmost sportsmanship, and while our team was excited to celebrate him after his silver medal, we are so thrilled that he is getting the gold that he deserves, and can’t wait to honor him as a Paralympic champion.”
Malone set several school records during his career at Hamilton Southeastern and won the state championship in the 200 meters his junior year. He also graduated from the Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired before attending Indiana State University.
He will compete in the 400-meter T12 semifinal at 6:36 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Sept. 4. If he advances, the final is scheduled for 4:08 a.m. ET Thursday, Sept. 5.
Malone could be chosen as one of the members of the 4x100-meter universal relay team. Round 1 is scheduled for 6:50 a.m. ET Friday, Sept. 6, with the final scheduled at 2:42 p.m. ET that same day.