Össur proudly congratulates members of Team Össur and Össur Ambassadors for their extraordinary performance at the 2024 Para Athletics World Championships in Kobe, Japan.

The athletes soared to even greater speeds and distances, capturing a total of 14 medals at this year’s Worlds – 5 gold, 6 silver and 3 bronze – while competing on their iconic Össur Cheetah® prosthetic sports blades. They also set one new World Record and accomplished many Championship Records, and personal and season-best results, including:

Dutch athlete Fleur Jong, who successfully defended her gold medal in the T62/64 women’s long jump category with another first-place finish and a Championship record of 6.53m. Jong’s teammate Marlene van Gansewinkel, took the silver with a season-best of 5.45m.

Fleur Jong also repeated as the gold medalist in the 100m in the T62/64 category, setting another Championship record with a time of 12.71s. Marlene van Gansewinkel also set a Championship record with a time of 12.73, earning her the silver medal in this event.

In the women’s T64 200m event, The Netherlands’ Marlene Van Gansewinkel set a new World Record as the first woman with a prosthetic leg to run the 200m below 26 seconds with her gold medal-winning time of 25.73s. Her Team Össur teammate Beatriz Hatz of the USA took the bronze, with a time of 27.70s.   

Germany’s Markus Rehm, “The Blade Jumper,” continued his dominance in the men’s T64 long jump with his seventh consecutive back-to-back gold medal and a season-best of 8.30m. Rehm’s Team Össur teammate Derek Loccident of the USA set a new American record and took silver with a distance of 7.69m, while his countryman Trenten Merrill won the bronze medal with a distance of 7.35m, a personal best for him.

In the men’s T64 100m race, Costa Rican athlete and Össur Ambassador Sherman Guity won the gold medal with a time of 10.88, followed closely by U.S. Team Össur members Hunter Woodhall and Derek Loccident, who won the silver and bronze, respectively.

Hunter Woodhall of the USA also took silver in the hotly contested men’s 400m in the T62 category, while teammate Derek Loccident also took silver in the men’s high jump in the T44/64 category.

“We continue to be inspired by the extraordinary accomplishments of the athletes who competed at this year’s World Championships,” said Sveinn Sölvason, President and CEO of Embla Medical, the parent company of Össur.

“The members of Team Össur and our Össur Ambassadors are among the most accomplished athletes in the world, and we are honored that they choose to wear our Cheetah sports prostheses in competition, as well as Össur’s other prosthetics technologies for their daily use,” he said. “Their feedback plays a critical role in influencing our continuing innovation of prosthetics technologies that enable people with lower limb loss of all abilities and mobility levels to live a life without limitations.”

According to Sölvason, Össur’s iconic Cheetah sports prostheses continued to be the uncontested gold standard and dominant prosthesis-of-choice for the majority of world-class competitors at this year’s World Championships, including:

• All seven competitors in the T64 women’s long jump category competed on Cheetah blades.
• All five finalists in the women’s T64 200m sprint competed on Cheetah blades.
• Seven out of the eight finalists in the men’s T64 100m race competed on Cheetah blades.
• Two of the top three medalists in the men’s T63 100m competition competed on Cheetah blades.
• All finalists in the men’s T64 200m competed on Cheetah blades.
• Nine of the 13 competitors in the men’s T64 long jump competed on Cheetah blades; the other four athletes did not wear a prosthesis.

“Such extraordinary results are especially exciting, considering the next major international event that will take place in Paris this summer,” Sölvason said. “We wish all of the athletes continued good health and success as they prepare to compete on the world stage in just a few months’ time.”