Paralympian #234 Mitch Joynt has emerged from a challenging period of ongoing hamstring injuries to boost his LA28 ambitions with an excellent all-around display at the Oceania Athletics Championships in Darwin.
The Para sprinter impressed at the event last month by blasting to an Oceania 100m T64 record of 11.74 before coming within 0.03 of his Oceania 200m T64 record to grab bronze in the men’s 200m ambulant event.
“It is good to be back racing again and for it to go well (in Darwin) was a nice bonus,” he explains. “The performance in Darwin highlights that the work we are doing is effective.”
“I don’t think I’ve hit a higher top speed than in other races, I’m just getting there a bit quicker and that is thanks to the work I’ve put in with my coach.”
“I knew I was capable of running sub-23 seconds in the 200m but to run four races in two days (in Darwin), having not raced the whole season, was a challenge. I know I need to gain a little more track fitness to run quicker, but to put it into context, before Oceania Champs I’d run two sub-23-second times in my career and in just six hours I managed to twice run sub-23.”
Making his Paralympic debut at Paris 2024 was the realisation of a dream he first held while lying in a hospital bed 11 years earlier following a workplace accident which resulted in the amputation of his right leg.
Having missed out on selection for Tokyo 2020, he describes making the start line in Paris 2024 as “really satisfying” and Mitch performed well to finish sixth in the men’s 200m T64 final in 23.16 – within 0.01 of his personal best at that time.
“It was a tough schedule to run both the heats and the final on the same day,” recalls Mitch of Paris 2024. “But I was stoked to back up my performance in the heat and run the second and third fastest (200m) times of my career at that point.”
Post-Paris, Mitch also made a coaching switch, pivoting from Hamish Meacheam – the man who had developed his Para sprinting career from the outset – to current coach Nick Cowan.
“Nick is a very good problem solver and can make those small refinements to enable me to run more efficiently and therefore faster,” says Mitch a two-time World Para Athletics Championships bronze medallist in the Men’s 200m T64. “My block starts are ten times better than before and my first 50m to 60m in both the 100m and 200m has drastically improved.
“My top-end speed has always been a strength, and I’ve tried not to lose that, but by improving my starts, my acceleration to top speed is better than ever.”
Last July, Mitch was invited to compete at the Diamond League in Eugene – one of the most prestigious meets on the non-disabled elite one-day athletics circuit – after organisers arranged a pair of Para sprint events. Taking his opportunity, the 31-year-old blitzed to a national record in his favoured men’s 200m T64 of 22.86, but shortly after his return to Aotearoa New Zealand, he started to encounter hamstring issues.
“I had a knot that I couldn’t stretch or roll out,” he explains. “I first felt it two weeks after I came back from Eugene during a max-speed session. It went ping and the hamstring has hurt ever since.”
Despite experiencing pain with every step at the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi, he battled on to finish a highly creditable sixth in the men’s 200m T64. “Pleasantly surprised” by his performance in India, he has since faced a long road to recovery.
Diagnosed with tendinopathy, a painful non-rupture tendon injury typically caused by repetitive overuse, he has undergone gym rehabilitation, shock therapy, needling, physiotherapy, and adjustments to his training load, to keep the problem at bay.
It has been a long and at times frustrating journey for Mitch but over the past eight weeks or so, he has finally returned to full training.
“Tendinopathy is one of the hardest injuries to recover from and although I feel some level of low-grade pain, it no longer limits my ability to run,” he explains.
Competing in the Para athletics relay at the New Zealand Track and Field Championships in Auckland in March – his first competition since the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships – gave him confidence. Then at the Oceania Championships he exceeded expectations to offer huge optimism for the future.
Currently on an off-season rest period from his training regime – which typically combines five track sessions with two gym sessions each week – he plans to revive attempts to challenge the world men’s 400m T64 record of 49.66 next season.
“The hamstring didn’t allow me to have a go at the record during the 2025–26 season, but we have now moved that goal to later this year and might have a crack at the Night of 5s (in Auckland) in December.”
His primary goal for 2027 is the World Para Athletics Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, but just over two years out from LA28 he believes he is well positioned to achieve his goals.
“Every major championship I’ve competed at I’ve overperformed,” he explains. “I’ve always chipped away and got better every time.
“I’m running better than ever and if I can get down to 22.5 (for the 200m) next year I can look to breaking 22 seconds by LA. If I can run sub-22 that is pretty much a guaranteed medal. That is the trajectory we are on.”
***We will continue to follow Mitch’s story on the Road to LA28.
Cover photo: Supplied via @mitchjoynt_theparaathlete
