Ezra Frech, a prominent American Paralympic athlete, has established himself both as a top athlete, and as a leading advocate of disability rights. In 2005, Frech was born with congenital limb differences, leaving him without most of his left leg and fingers on his left hand; he received his first prosthetic leg at just 11 months old. Competing in the T63 category for athletes with a leg amputation below the knee, he is a two-time Paralympic gold medalist, having triumphed in both the 100m and high jump at the 2024 Paris Games.

A former junior world champion and motivational speaker, Frech is currently a student-athlete at the University of Southern California, making him one of the most recognizable and accomplished athletes on the American team at the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi. In an exclusive interview with EssentiallySports’ host Shreya Verma at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Frech opened up about the challenges and mindset required to compete at the highest level across multiple events.

The conversation came on the heels of a tough performance in the men’s long jump T63 final, where he finished off the podium in fifth. When asked about his feelings after the event Frech said, “Yeah, I’m honestly not that, I’m not that upset about it. I, you know, that’s probably, that’s the second farthest I’ve ever jumped. You know, we took a lot of risks in the last few weeks, we changed a lot of stuff. This is my first time ever jumping on this blade. I had never taken jumps on it before, but we said, you know what, we took the risk, you know, we put it on.“

Demonstrating his forward-looking attitude, he added, “Like, you take risks, and sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t, but in my head, everything is building to LA. And so I’m moving in the right direction, you know, like I wish I was on the podium, of course, but you know, these guys jumped far. I felt like I had it; it was right there. It was just like, you know, some days it’s not your day, but it’s all right.”

However, when our host shifted the focus to his next event, the 100-meter sprint, Frech’s confidence was palpable. “I always feel very confident in the 100 meter, regardless of what else happens,” he stated, drawing a parallel to his experience at the Paris Paralympics, where he nabbed the gold. “I got fifth in the long jump in Paris, you know, and then came back and won the 100-meter.” This history of bouncing back under pressure fuels his belief in his abilities.

While acknowledging the stiff competition, Frech affirmed his readiness to perform when it matters most, saying, “I haven’t been running well all year, but I feel confident in my ability to put something down. Listen, when the lights are brightest, that’s when I do my best.” However, what’s his mentality of appearing in multiple events and going through multiple results?

Ezra Frech describes his approach to adapting in para sports

Our host noted his noticeably positive demeanor compared to just two days prior, when Ezra Frech had to settle for second after a narrow loss in the men’s high jump T63 event (the event in which he’s the reigning Paralympic champion), where India’s Shailesh Kumar took gold with a record-breaking jump. Frech explained this shift in outlook is a necessary skill for a multi-event athlete.

“You have to be able to adapt. You have to be, you have to be able to forget what happened,” he said. He described a process of allowing himself to feel the disappointment briefly before mentally moving on to the next challenge. “I let myself feel it for a day or two, and then I had to move on and focus on the long jump.” This ability to refocus is a strategy he honed at the Paralympics, where he had to compartmentalize his results across different events to ultimately achieve his golden success.

The 2025 World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi is a major event on the road to LA 2028. Hosted from September 27 to October 5 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the championships feature over 1,000 athletes from more than 100 nations competing in 186 medal events, making it the largest Para sport event ever held in India.

For an athlete like Ezra Frech, this environment provides the perfect high-stakes platform to test new techniques and build momentum. His candid conversation reveals not just the physical demands of being a world-class competitor but the profound mental resilience required to navigate victory, defeat, and risk on the path to long-term goals. His journey continues in the 100m T63 final, where he aims to once again prove that his best performances arrive when the pressure is at its peak.