University of Northern Iowa Athletics
Heims earns first Para World Championship medal in discus
9/29/2025 10:42:00 AM | Track and Field
Former Panther and Paralympian throws season-best at Para World Championships in India.
NEW DELHI, India --- Former UNI thrower Jessica Heims earned her first career World Para Athletics Championship medal on Monday in India, finishing second in the F64 women's discus throw at Jawaharal Nehru Stadium.
Coming off her third career Paralympic Games last summer in Paris, Heims threw a season-best 35.75 meters on her sixth and final throw of the competition after a 33.68-meter toss on her fifth attempt. Poland's Faustyna Kotlowska took home the gold medal with a winning throw of 38.96 meters, while Heims' American teammate Alicia Guerrero finished third (29.45m).
A Swisher, Iowa native and 2021 UNI graduate, Heims 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 Tokyo games, finishing in eighth-place while also taking seventh in the T44 400-meter dash. Last summer at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, she finished sixth.
ÂWOMEN'S F64 DISCUS RESULTS (2025 World Para Athletics Championships)
- 1st - Faustyna Kotlowska (Poland) - 39.86m
- 2nd - Jessica Heims (USA) - 35.75m
- 3rd - Alicia Guerrero (USA) - 29.45m
- 4th - Dayawanti (India) - 27.94m
- 5th - Chloe Chavez (USA) - 26.87m
- 6th - Addisyn Franceschini (Canda) - 25.76m
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