PARIS --- Former UNI track and field athlete Jessica Heims competed in the women's F64 discus throw on Sunday at the Paralympic Games in France, placing sixth in the 11-woman field at Stade De France.
Making her third Paralympic appearance against a field that included seven competitors from the 2020 Tokyo Games, Heims scratched on her first attempt but quickly rebounded with a 34.01-meter toss on her second throw. After recording a 32.02-meter throw on her third attempt, Heims cleared 34 meters the remainder of the competition with 34.59 and 34.23-meter tosses. She finished the day with her best throw of 34.68 meters.
Yang Yue, who took silver in Tokyo as well as second place at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics in the F42-46 discus, captured gold for China, while her teammate, two-time reigning Paralympic champion Yao Juan earned the silver medal. Osiris Aneth Machado Plata (Mexico) earned the bronze, with Faustyna Kotlowska (Poland) placing fourth and Heims' American teammate Samantha Heyison earning fifth-place.
Heims, a Swisher, Iowa native and 2021 UNI graduate who was born with amniotic band syndrome, was the first Panther to ever compete in the Paralympic Games back in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She placed fifth in the F44 discus at the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and also threw in the F64 discus at the last Paralympics in Tokyo, finishing in eighth-place while also taking seventh in the T44 400-meter dash. Heims also represented the United States on the international stage at the Para Athletics World Championships, the Para Pan American Games and the Para Athletics Grand Prix.
WOMEN'S F64 DISCUS FINAL RESULTS (Paris 2024 Paralympics)
- 1st | Yang Yue (China) - 42.39m
- 2nd | Yao Juan (China) - 41.98m
- 3rd | Osiris Aneth Machado Plata (Mexico) - 40.01m
- 4th - Faustyna Kotlowska (Poland) - 39.89m
- 5th - Samantha Heyison (USA) - 38.78m
- 6th - Jessica Heims (USA) - 34.68m
- 7th - Sarah Emiston (Australia) - 34.33m
- 8th - Funmi Oduwaiye (Great Britain) - 33.32m
- 9th | Ida Neese (Norway) - 32.73m
- 10th | Arelle Middleton (USA) - 30.38m
- 11th | Lisitso Khotlele (Lesotho) - 23.31m