Ezra Frech - Athlete

Ezra Frech was born in Los Angeles with congenital limb differences, missing his left knee and shin bone and with one finger on his left hand. Now 21 years old, Ezra received his first prosthetic leg at just 11 months old. At age two, he underwent surgeries that included the amputation of his left leg and the transplantation of a toe to his left hand to improve its function. He began using a running blade at four years old.

Growing up, Ezra played nearly every sport he could find, including basketball, football, soccer, baseball, and karate. He became the starting quarterback and point guard for his football and club basketball teams and set dozens of junior national records in Para track and field. In 2014, at just nine years old, he was named a finalist for Sports Illustrated Kids Sportskid of the Year.

In 2016, while watching friends and mentors compete at the Rio Paralympic Games, 11-year-old Ezra told his mother, “I want to go to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.” From that moment forward, making Team USA became his focus.

Three years later, at only 14, Ezra made the U.S. Paralympic Track & Field Team. During a breakout 2019 season, he won two gold medals and a bronze at the World Para Athletics Junior Championships, earned two silver medals at the Parapan American Games, and competed in the World Para Athletics Championships, reaching the top eight in all three of his events.

When the Tokyo Paralympic Games were postponed until 2021, Ezra continued training through the pandemic using parks, beaches, backyards, and eventually the track at Brentwood School. In the spring of 2021, while still competing against non-disabled athletes for his high school team, he finished second at the CIF Finals. He then became U.S. champion in the T63 100m and long jump at the U.S. Paralympic Trials, set an Americas record in the long jump, and qualified for his first Paralympic Games.

At just 16 years old, Ezra made his Paralympic debut in Tokyo, finishing fifth in the T63 high jump and eighth in the long jump. Falling just short of the high jump podium became one of the defining moments of his career and fueled his determination to return to the Games as a medal contender.

After an Achilles injury interrupted his 2022 season, Ezra returned in 2023 with the strongest year of his career to that point. At the World Para Athletics Championships in Paris, he won the T63 high jump world championship and set a world record of 1.95 meters. He also finished fourth in the long jump and sixth in the 100m.

In 2024, Ezra won U.S. national titles in the 100m, long jump, and high jump before competing at the World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan, where he earned silver in the high jump and finished fourth in the long jump. The result only intensified his focus heading into the Paris Paralympic Games.

At Paris 2024, Ezra delivered the breakthrough he had spent more than a decade chasing. He stunned the field to win gold in the T63 100m, earning the first Paralympic medal of his career. The following night, he returned to Stade de France and won gold in the T63 high jump, clearing 1.94 meters to set a Paralympic record. He also finished fifth in the long jump, leaving Paris as a two-time Paralympic champion at only 19 years old.

Following Paris, Ezra transitioned fully into his professional athletic career after his time at USC and signing with adidas. In 2025, he returned to the World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi and earned another silver medal in the T63 high jump, continuing to establish himself among the world’s leading Para athletes.

Today, Ezra is a two-time Paralympian, two-time Paralympic gold medalist, world champion, world-record holder, and one of the most recognizable athletes in the Paralympic movement. His focus now turns toward Los Angeles 2028, where he will have the opportunity to defend his Paralympic titles in his hometown — while continuing to push Para sport into the mainstream far beyond the track.