Ezra Frech is an American track and field athlete who won two golds at the 2024 Paralympics 2024, find out more about him and his disability
Frech is a two-time Paralympian and competes in high jump, long jump and sprinting events.
Who is high jump para-athlete Ezra Frech, bio, age, height, disability story, world record and Instagram
Frech has previously competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, and was a double silver medallist at the Parapan American Games.
In high jump, in which he holds the world record, he cleared a new Paralympic record height of 1.94 meters, 14 centimeters higher than his jump in Tokyo (1.8m).
Frech was born with congenital limb differences that left him without a knee or fibula in his left leg and without fingers on his left hand.
Ezra Frech bio
Ezra Frech is an American track and field star who was born on May 11, 2005, in Los Angeles, California, United States. He competes in high jump, long jump, as well as in sprinting events. Aside from being a Paralympic athlete, Ezra is also a motivational speaker and disability rights advocate. Frech is the son of Bahar Soomekh, a Persian Jewish actress, and Clayton Frech, an American of German descent.
Frech is Jewish like parents and has two younger brothers, named Gabriel and Elijah. The young para-athlete was born missing a knee and fibula and several fingers on his left hand. Frech received his first prosthetic leg when he was just around 11 months old and had to undergo surgery at the age of 2 to remove his lower left leg. He also had to get his toe transplanted from his amputated foot onto his left hand.
Age and height
Ezra Frech is currently 19 years old and stands at a height of 1.86 m.
Education
Frech attended the Brentwood School, a boarding school in Brentwood, Essex, England and graduated in 2023.
Career and achievements
Ezra Frech started out playing all kinds of sports as a kid including basketball, baseball, soccer, and karate. However, he eventually began focusing on track and field when he was just 8 years old. He competed in his first track meet in 2013, during the Endeavor Games in Edmond, Oklahoma, where he went out on break several national youth records. The following year, in 2014, Frech featured as a finalist for the Sports Illustrated Sportkid of the Year award.
Frech eventually competed in his first international meet at the 2019 World Para Athletics Junior Championships. He managed to win one gold and two bronze medals at the event, before winning two silver medals at the Parapan American Games. Ezra Frech also competed at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships, where he became the youngest athlete to do so.
Frech also competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, where he came in 5th in the high jump T63 event and 8th in the long jump T63 event. Meanwhile, Frech competed at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships where he won the gold medal in high jump T63.
Earlier this year, in February, Ezra became the first above-the-knee amputee to play for an NCAA Division I track and field team, after committing at the University of Southern California. He also competed at the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships where he placed 2nd in the T63 high jump and 4th in the T63 long jump. Frech is now a double gold medallist after winning the 100 meters T63 and the menโs high jump T63 at the 2024 Paris Summer Paralympics.
Philanthropy
Back in 2006, Ezra Frech and his family founded Team Ezra to provide financial resources to various organizations which serve people with physical disabilities. As part of the organizationโs activities, Frech began going around schools and speaking to raise awareness about people with impairments when he was just 4 years old.
Several years later, in 2013, Frech and his father Clayton Frech, along with their family and friends founded Angel City Sports. The organization provides free, year-round access to sport training, equipment, as well as competitive opportunities for kids and adults suffering from physical disabilities.
Ezra Frech has an Instagram account with the handle @ezrafrech, where he has over 196K followers and about 1,036 posts.