A Double Amputee’s Hopes for the Olympics Are in Jeopardy

Blake Leeper qualified for the world championships in track and field in 2019, but officials maintain his running blades make him too tall.

Blake Leeper, one of the world’s fastest double-amputee athletes, will have to race on a significantly smaller set of running blades if he wants to compete for a spot on the United States Olympic team, World Athletics ruled Monday. Leeper, who finished fifth in the 400 meters at the United States track and field championships in 2019, was in contention to compete on a relay at the World Athletics Championships that year, but the sport’s world governing body ruled that the blades he used made him “unnaturally tall.” Leeper was born with both legs missing below the knee and at age 4 underwent amputative surgery to allow an optimal fit for prosthetics. He won two medals at the London Paralympics in 2012 but then decided to run against non-disabled athletes as well.