By Gareth James
Michael Jenkins admitted it felt surreal as he won F38 shot put silver on his World Para Athletics debut after an astonishing battle in Paris.
The world record was broken six times during the competition – once briefly by Jenkins – before he finished with a European record to add to his medal.
The seven feet tall thrower from Pembrokeshire said: “It’s surreal and my heart is pounding. I’m sure it will be for the coming days – it’s incredible and I’m very proud.
“Going out there, I did have a lot of expectations – I wanted to push it, I wanted to smash my own best, and as a minimum I wanted to get the European record – that was my main goal going in.”
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Jenkins, who trains in Cardiff under Ryan Spencer-Jones, had gone into the event with a best throw of 15.30m – but every one of his efforts would have beaten the previous world record.
The 19-year-old shattered his best with his opening throw of 16.46, repeated that I round three after a second round foul.
In the fourth round, Jenkins sent the shot soaring out to 16.94m before producing a monster effort of 17.14m in the penultimate round which was a world record.
But Jose Gregorio Lemos of Columbia took gold with a world record breaking throw of 18.26m as Jenkins finished with an effort of 16.77m.
Jenkins added: “The really strong competition definitely helped push me – I don’t think I would’ve got that 17-metre throw without the pressure of the other athletes trying to raise the distance.
“All the boys out there are lovely and accommodating – I was the youngest out athlete there, and they were all giving me tips on how to handle the pressure and generally pushing me to throw as a far as I can.
British Medallists (Welsh athletes in bold)
Gold: Hollie Arnold [Women’s F46 Javelin], Jonathan Broom-Edwards [Men’s T64 high jump], Hannah Cockroft [Women’s T34 100m and 800m], Gavin Drysdale [Men’s T72 100m], Sabrina Fortune [Women’s F20 Shot Put], Sammi Kinghorn [Women’s T53 100m], Dan Pembroke [Men’s F13 Javelin]
Silver: Kare Adenegan [Women’s T34 100m and 800m], Olivia Breen [Women’s T38 Long Jump], Michael Jenkins [Men’s F38 Shot Put], Sammi Kinghorn [Women’s T53 400m and 800m], Rafi Solaiman [Men’s T72 100m], Universal 4x100m Relay
Bronze: Fabienne Andre [Women’s T34 100m], Sophie Hahn [Women’s T38 100m and 200m], Maria Lyle [Women’s T35 200m], Zac Shaw [Men’s T12 100m], Danny Sidbury [Men’s T54 5000m]