Hometown: Killarney
Coach:
Classification: T47
Disability Group:
Jordan, who was born with a foreshortened left arm, was a sporting ground-breaker even before he turned to Para athletics because, in his teens, he was the first one-handed player to ever represent their Country Nationally in the World, when he played for Ireland at age 15.
A chance meeting with Jason Smyth at a disability conference persuaded him to try other sports at a Paralympic Ireland Expo.
He started practicing high jump at his local track where his coach Tomas Griffin, a former sprinter and long jumper, spotted him and offered to coach him. Since that time, Jordan’s team has expanded with coach Alan Delaney moving into specific High Jump, Tomás Griffin as Sprint coach, & Shane O’Rourke as head S&C Coach. Jordan first competed in an Irish athletics’ vest in 2017 after just four months of training for high jump and, within a year, he had won a bronze medal at the 2018 European Championships.
He finished sixth at the 2019 Worlds Championship and fourth at this year’s European Championships in Poland in June. His personal best of 1:95m dates from the Irish National Championships (able-bodied) in 2019 and the European record in his event was 1:97m so he is not far off it. He is also one of very few Para Athletes to have won a National Championship in ‘Able Bodied Competition.
Jordan was the Flag-bearer leading Team Ireland out into the Olympic Stadium alongside fellow PTSB Ambassador Britney Arendse, where he finished 9th overall.
He is currently studying ‘Mentoring for Professional Development & Communication’ in UCD.
Tokyo 2021 Results:
Jordan finished in 9th place in the men’s high jump T47 jumping at 1.74.
