Ezra Frech, a Paralympic athlete and world record holder, has committed to USC Track and Field.
In an announcement he posted on Instagram, Frech said he has found his home as a Trojan — the first above-the-knee amputee, to his knowledge, to have committed to a Division I Track and Field program alongside able-bodied athletes.
“Two years ago I put out in the universe that I wanted to make a Division I track team,” he said in the announcement. “I’m excited to continue my academic and athletic career competing against able-bodied athletes at the University of Southern California.”
At the age of two, Frech had surgery to remove his lower left leg, having been born missing his left knee and fibula. His left hand, which originally had one finger, received a toe from the removed leg. He received his first prosthetic leg at 11 months old.
Last year, at the Paris 2023 Para Athletics World Championship, he set a world record at the T63 high jump at 1.95 meters, or 6 feet 4 inches. The T63 high jump marks a disability class in which participants must generate power and balance using only one leg.
At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, he finished fifth in high jump and eighth in long jump. He was 16 at the time.
Frech is also the co-founder of Angel City Sports, an organization which hosts competitions, clinics and events for athletes with physical and visual disabilities. It has hosted the Angel City Games, an event for adaptive sports and athletes with disabilities, annually since 2015.
At age nine, Frech stood on a stage in front of 17,000 people to speak about his life as an amputee athlete. On that stage and many others, Frech spoke about his journey as an amputee, his desire to play sports and his coach’s motto.
“I remember my coach telling me the most important thing is to finish well,” he said. “When they say ‘you can’t,’ just smile, because you know you can.”