Runner Finishes 200-Meter Race After Prosthetic Blade Breaks 50 Meters In – runnersworld.com

U.S. Paralympic athlete Regas Woods set out at the Para Athletics Grand Prix Grosseto in Grosseto, Italy, with the intention to win gold in the 200. Instead, he found himself tumbling to the track 50 meters into the race. His personalized prosthetic running blade had broken.

Woods was faced with a decision: Walk off or finish. For the 38-year-old athlete, quitting was not an option.

“I just remember looking back and seeing the blade and thinking ‘I never give up, you can never give up,’” he told Runner’s World. “And that’s what I always say, so I knew I had to finish.”

Despite the impossibility of catching up to his competitors, Woods jumped up and began to hop on one leg all the way to the finish line, even though he was officially disqualified.

He said that he actually hopped closer to 170 meters, since he kept going until he was off the track.

Though he was frustrated, he didn’t show it.

“In the moment it was really discouraging,” he said of the fall. “ But I didn’t want anyone to be worried, so I smiled and got the crowd involved.”

A viral Twitter video of Woods, which has 76.5K views, shows him making his way down the straightaway, smiling and waving to the crowd.

Unfortunately for Woods, this was not his first experience with his blades breaking midevent. In the 2016 Paralympic trials in Charlotte, North Carolina, Woods was attempting the long jump when not one, but two of his blades snapped in half.

“I remember jumping and then falling,” Woods said. “Both my blades snapped just like that.”

Still, Woods went on to compete in the Paralympics that year, finishing sixth place in the long jump.

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Woods not only holds the “never quit” mentality himself, but also he aims to share his positivity with others. In 2010, Woods created the Never Say Never foundation along with his friend Nick Sitwell. The foundation helps amputee children to “overcome adversity with a positive attitude,” and help them believe that they are capable of doing anything they set their mind to.

Their website states in bold letters, “You are the only person that can ever limit you,” something that Woods clearly showed in his latest race. Instead of fretting about the possibility of another broken blade in the future, Woods simply said, “You just gotta keep going and you can’t stop and let it get to you”.

And Regas Woods isn’t stopping: He plans to make it to the 2020 Paralympics, and will continue to compete this season.