SAINT-DENIS, France – 19-year-old Ezra Frech is not a sprinter. But 19-year-old Ezra Frech is a Paralympic 100m T63 gold medalist.

“I’m quite shocked,” said Frech. “I was definitely not expecting to go out there and win.”

Less than two months ago, he set the world record in his main event, the high jump. Tomorrow, he’ll compete in that event at the Paralympics just a few miles away from the stadium where he won gold at last year’s world championships. He candidly stated that he was treating the sprint as a warmup for the high jump, but when that gun went off, all that mattered was the 100 meters in front of him.

Frech started the race in the middle of the pack but began to make his move around the halfway point.

“At about 50 meters, I was like ‘hold on, I’m in this,’ remembers Frech. “I got a good start and was doing everything right.”

Since he knows that his competitors know that he’s a high jumper, his perception of others’ perception of him put a chip on his shoulder. The chip drove him forward as he galloped past racer after racer in the final 50 meters.

With just centimeters to go, neck and neck with Denmark’s Daniel Wagner, he lunged forward, breaking the plane of the finish line with his head and right leg. Frech’s time of 12.06 was just a hundredth of a second off of the Paralympic record

Wagner ran the race of his life, a personal best 12.08, but it wasn’t enough against a 19-year-old high jumper. World record holder, Brazillian Vinicius Goncalves Rodrigues, took the bronze medal.

“When you walk into a stadium of 70,000 people, people tense up,” Frech said. “Everybody chokes, they don’t know what to do. The lights are a bit too bright for them, but they weren’t too bright for me. I walked in, I felt confident, and knew what I was capable of.

The brash Los Angeleno has set himself up to be one of the faces of the Games when they descend on his hometown in 2028. He can only further that cause tomorrow night.

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No other Team USA athlete took home a medal on Monday night at Stade de France, but Cassie Mitchell came the closest.

“Everybody wants to medal, right,” said the 43 year old engineering professor. “But the actual distance on the throw was good, the technique was good.”

The difference between her best throw and bronze medalist Zoia Osvii of Ukraine was just 18 centimeters, or seven inches.

After winning the silver medal at Rio 2016, Mitchell has finished fourth in each of the last two Paralympic discus competitions. Now, she turns her attention to 2028.

“I just need a few more inches,” said Mitchell. “And so I’ll continue to work on my speed. I think I have six world records in wheelchair track, they don’t offer that anymore, but my hand speed has always been my biggest strength, so I’ll continue to lean on that. I also hope to be there in a second sport as well, boccia. Between the two sports, hopefully we will come home with a medal, preferably gold!”

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Elsewhere along the track, Breanna Clark qualified for the T20 400m Women’s Final with a 56.32 in round 1. Tomorrow, she’ll have the chance to win her third consecutive Paralympic gold medal in this event.