Brilliant Broom-Edwards retains World title alongside long-term rival
High jumper Jonathan Broom-Edwards retained his World Para Athletics title in dramatic circumstances in Paris.
Both Broom-Edwards, who was born with a form of clubbed foot and went to the Clere School, and long time Polish rival Maciej Lepiato were faultless up to 2.07m in the T64 competition, for athletes with lower limb impairments.
However both failed to clear 2.07m and, after being offered the chance at a jump-off, the pair opted instead to share the gold medal - a unique, but not unprecedented step, with Qatar's Mutaz Barshim and Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi having shared the gold in the high jump final at the Tokyo Olympics.
With both athletes having recovered from career threatening ruptured Achilles injuries and having established a decade long friendly rivalry, it seemed like a fitting end to a thrilling competition that left Broom-Edwards delighted with the result.
"I'm over the moon," he said.
"I had a really difficult run up to the competition so just to be on the start line felt like a success.
"I was in a really good headspace, I was calm and felt fully confident in my abilities.
"It was the first time in my career I've had a faultless scorecard in a major competition.
"As I attempted the next bar, I had so much height over it but ended up clipping it with my foot.
"We'd been in 30 degree heat for two-and-a-half hours and I cramped up over the next two attempts and didn't have a lot left in the tank.
"To retain the title is amazing."
Lepiato beat Broom-Edwards to gold at the Englishman's first ever major international competition, the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships, and denied him again the following year at the IPC European Championships, when Broom-Edwards cleared a new world record height of 2.15m only for Lepiato to clear 2.17m.
The Polish star again had the better of the battle at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, forcing Broom-Edwards to settle for silver, but since returning from a succession of serious injuries, the British athlete has had the edge, becoming Paralympic champion at Tokyo 2020.
The chances of two high jumpers sharing the same scorecard and therefore being eligible for a jump-off are extremely slim, but the fact Broom-Edwards and Lepiato are so evenly matched means it’s not impossible it could happen again.
And while Broom-Edwards admitted he was more than happy to share the gold in Paris, he insists it was a one-off and he will go all out to be standing alone at the top of the podium when the two return to France for next year's Paralympics.
He said: "It was a no-brainer.
"Considering how long we'd been out there, to risk the gold medal on a maybe might have been something we'd come to regret.
"I do back myself that I would have pulled something out the bag, because I do feel like I'd jumped the highest that day.
"For what we've both been through, I actually felt it was quite poetic to be able to share a gold medal with someone who has pushed me to be better throughout my entire career.
"I will say this, it's the only one I'm giving him.
"I'm happy, but not content.
"I still back myself that I've got a lifetime best in me and I'm going to keep working towards that.
"In terms of the medal itself, it was the right decision and I've achieved what I set out to do."
The World Championships were in fact Broom-Edwards's first event of the season, with the 35-year-old having torn his hamstring eight weeks prior to the event in Paris.
"I had a minor tear the day before I flew out to a training camp in Turkey," he said.
"I had the all-clear to keep training but we ended up doing more damage and I tore the outer hamstring in the tendon.
"With the tendon, it isn't that painful so I kept trying to train for the two weeks I was out in Turkey even though I knew something didn't feel right.
"I had a scan when we got back and that confirmed I had a tear.
"All I could do was keep myself in the best shape possible, I had to back off from sprinting and jumping and cancel a competition I had scheduled.
"We slowly built back to being able to jump and I knew I had the height in me.
"I had to accept that it had happened and thankfully it all worked out."
Broom-Edwards, who was awarded an MBE in the 2022 New Year's Honours List, also works as a soft tissue therapist and motivational speaker and is pursuing an osteopathy degree.
Having reduced his workload, he has been working 12-hour days to make up for missed appointments since returning from Paris, while back in the athletics arena his attention will turn to the next World Championships in Kobe in May and then the Paralympics back in Paris towards the end of the summer.
He said: "It's all about striking that balance.
"I'm older now, so I don't require the same level of training that I used to.
"In the eight weeks building up to the World Champs, every decision I made had to be to help me jump higher.
"I loaded up the working weeks after coming back because I knew I needed that downtime from the high jump.
"I've already gone through next year's schedule leading up to Paris, working out how I can give myself the best possible chance of winning gold.
"I feel I'm in a place that can take me to gold again."
Broom-Edwards will be 36 when he returns to Paris to defend his Paralympic title next summer and would be 40 if he decides to compete at Los Angeles 2028.
With his sights still set on setting a new lifetime best, he doesn't feel too much extra pressure to perform as he approaches the twilight of his career.
"It adds extra excitement," he said.
"I've worked hard to make sure I have a lot of things I want to achieve when my athletics career finishes.
"I suppose there's that bit of added pressure to get it right, given that it might be the last time.
"I don't look at that pressure as a worry, it's more of an opportunity and I use that pressure to help me perform.
"I can only jump my highest heights when there's that pressure."
Broom-Edwards appeared on the hit Channel 4 show Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, when he was put through a gruelling replica of the actual special forces selection course along with celebrities including Love Island's Amber Gil, EastEnders actress Maisie Smith and fellow athletes Fatima Whitbread and Dwain Chambers.
Broom-Edwards was hugely impressive throughout much of the course in the desert in the Wadi Rum Desert in Jordan until he was forced to withdraw after breaking two ribs when Calum Best, son of legendary footballer George, tackled him in a game of 'murderball'.
And Broom-Edwards, who underwent a series of unique physical and mental tests while on the show, continues to use his experiences to help him thrive in the athletics arena.
He said: "The mind can be limiting but once you've taken yourself to a place you didn't know you could go to, it opens up a whole world of new opportunities.
"When things get hard, that's when I kick into gear and when things get stressful, I try to look for opportunities.
"It really did enhance my mind and it's helped me a lot in training and competition.”
When Broom-Edwards returns to Paris to defend his Paralympic title in a little over 12 months time, he feels his experience at this year's World Championships will stand him in good stead as he looks to win gold again.
"The Paralympics is the ultimate aim, everything is building up to that," he said.
"I've had success in Paris and it'll be about trying to recreate what we did this time around to achieve the best possible result again."
