Athletics Min-ho Jang, disabled AG 100m gold medal... 10.48 seconds, new Asian record

(Nagoya = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Dong-han and joint reporters = Jang Min-ho (29, Anyang City Hall), who participated in the Asian Para Games following the Asian Games, ran a golden sprint with a new Asian record.

Min-ho Jang was the first to cross the finish line with a new Asian record of 10.48 seconds in the men's 100m (sport class T13) finals of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Para Games (Asian Para Games) held at the Mizuho Park Athletics Stadium in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan on the 20th.

Jang Min-ho, who became the first Korean athlete to compete in both the Asian Games and the Asian Para Games, won a gold medal in his first international all-disabled competition.

Last month, he participated in the mixed and men's 1,600m relay at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games and came out on top on the track again after 20 days.

Min-ho Jang, who had set a new Korean record in the mixed relay preliminaries at the time, made his mark this time by setting a new Asian record.

Min-ho Jang, who took first place overall in the morning preliminaries with a new Asian record of 10.61 seconds, ran a leisurely race in the finals as well.

He started strong in lane 5 and ran quickly from the beginning.

Japan's Ryota Fukunaga (10.72 seconds) and Shuta Kawakami (10.77 seconds) followed, but Min-ho Jang widened the gap with a powerful spurt in the second half.

He crossed the finish line with overwhelming speed and broke the Asian record he had set in the morning.

After checking the record, Jang Min-ho smiled brightly, wrapped the Taegeukgi around his shoulder, and enjoyed the joy of winning the gold medal.

Min-ho Jang, who was a long-distance runner in high school, left the track for a while and returned to sprinting in 2023. The following year, at the National Sports Festival, his comeback came to fruition by winning the 100m, 200m, and 400m relay races.

However, my eyesight, which had rapidly deteriorated since last year, presented a new ordeal. He was diagnosed with visual impairment due to retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic disease that narrows his field of vision.

He continued to run despite the crisis in his career, qualified for the Asian Games, and expanded his scope of challenge into disabled athletics. After competing in two competitions one after another, I won both gold medals and a new Asian record in Nagoya.

In the men's 800m (sports class T51/T52/T53) final held earlier, Byeong-Hoon Yoo (54, Gyeongbuk Sports Association for the Disabled) took 5th place with a time of 1 minute 40.84 seconds.