Yahoo Sports Former 'Survivor' Contestant Wins Silver At Paralympics, U.S. Teammate Wins Gold
American track athletes Jaydin Blackwell and Ryan Medrano went 1-2 for Team USA at the Paris Paralympics on Saturday.
Medrano, a “Survivor” alum, finished the men’s 100-meter T38 final in 10.97 seconds, while Blackwell broke the world record in a blistering 10.64 seconds and won gold.
Colombian athlete Juan Alejandro Campas Sánchez nabbed a bronze behind the two Americans.
Medrano said competing against Blackwell motivated him.
“Having Jaydin running like lightning, that’s helped me push myself that much faster,” Medrano told 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 again in another Paralympic T38 event, the men’s 400 meters, and Medrano will also compete in the men’s long jump. The T38 classification is for track athletes with coordination impairments, including hypertonia, ataxia and athetosis.
Medrano, who finished ninth in the 43rd season of “Survivor,” was born with mild cerebral palsy. He competed alongside fellow U.S. Paralympic track athlete Noelle Lambert on his season of the show and credits her for getting him into para sports.
Lambert will compete in the long jump and the 100-meter sprint in Paris.
Becoming a para athlete has been life-changing, Medrano told the Texas Standard last 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 said.
“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.”
