World Para Athletics Championships – Four NSW medallists

6 October 2025

World Para Athletics Championships – Four NSW medallists

The 12th World Para Athletics Championships concluded overnight in New Delhi, India, with four NSW athletes finishing on the podium. Mali Lovell and Rheed McCracken each claiming a pair of silver medals, while Luke Bailey and Lexie Brown were members of the bronze medal winning Universal 4x100m Relay.

Mali in the medals

UTS sprinter Mali Lovell won a medal at her fourth consecutive global meet following the 2023 and 2024 World Championships and Paris Olympics. At those previous meets she had won a T36 200m medal, but this year she went one better, a medal in the T36 100m. She started her campaign with a surprise silver medal in the T36 100m, clocking 14.56.

“I learned from my first World Championships that anything can happen. I guess I just put faith in my coach and here I am!” Lovell told Australian Athletics.

After bronze medals in the 200s at the last two global meets, Lovell when one step higher on the podium this year claiming the silver medal with a time of 29.69 seconds.

“I was just trying to go as fast as I can and that’s what I basically did. Everything is just surreal and it feels so good to be on the podium. It’s close to a PB, so I’m really happy,” Lovell said.

Lovell’s coach, Katie Edwards, was with her in New Delhi as a member of the team coach staff.

Rheed returns to podium

Representing Australia for the tenth occasion, Rheed McCracken had his best campaign since the Rio Paralympics in 2016, winning two silver medals.

His first event was the T34 400m where he won silver in a time of 48.67 – his first global medal since 2019.

“I’m really happy, I gave everything. I went faster than yesterday so I couldn’t have done much more, I tried as hard as I could and I’m stoked to leave with a medal – we’ve still got the 100m to go,” McCracken said.

“I have found more consistency and made some life changes, really trying to focus more on my racing with the great team around me. Thank you to all of them who have put time and energy into me.”

The next day, McCracken was back on the track and in the T34 100m and in the final he had a tight battle with Thailand’s Chaiwat Rattana but hung on for silver in a time of 15.04 seconds, just 0.04 second behind the gold medallist.

“I felt like I got away really well, but I didn’t have the top end spend and that’s racing. We all turn up here to try and win and only one person can,” McCracken said.

“I’m definitely happy. I was fourth in the 100m last year and maybe that’s a little bit of athletics karma. I got bronze in the 800m by a small margin that time [in Paris] and this time, it fell the other side.”

He closed his campaign with 4th place in the T34 800m.

Relay bronze

Australian competed in the Universal 4x100m relay, a mix of for disciplines. They used athletes with the following classifications: T12, T37, T47 and T54. NSW athletes, Luke Bailey (T54) and Lexie Brown (T47), were both members of the relay which placed 3rd in a time of 48.96.

Brown, aged only 14, had set PBs in the T47 100m (13.12) and 200m (26.87), while Bailey was 5th in both his heats of the 100m (14.73) and 400m (49.28).

Other NSW athletes competing:

Sarah Walsh 5th T64 long jump 5.14m

Layla Sharp 8th T38 400m 65.17, 5th heat 200m 28.51

Summer Giddings 6th T35 100m 16.95

Coco Espie 4th T34 400m 73.82, 6th 800m 2:27.73, 7th 100m 22.74

Jackson Love 8th T35 200m 24.71 (Oceania record), 4th heat 100m 12.34

Telaya Blacksmith 8th T20 400m 63.87, 10th Long Jump 5.09m

James Tirado5th heat T13 100m 11.93

Cooper Robb-Jackson 6th heat T38 400m 54.73

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW

Image: Rheed McCracken(courtesy of Australian Athletics)