Akeem Stew­art says his gold medal per­for­mance in the men's F 64 dis­cus event at the Para Pan Amer­i­can Games in San­ti­a­go, Chile on No­vem­ber 24 came de­spite pick­ing up an in­jury less than a month be­fore leav­ing for the Games.

Stew­art won his third straight gold in the event af­ter his vic­to­ry at the 2015 edi­tion in Toron­to, Cana­da and four years lat­er in Li­ma, Pe­ru.

"I think I will cher­ish this one a lit­tle more than the oth­ers be­cause I was in­jured two weeks be­fore I trav­elled. So I had to do a lot of ther­a­py over there (in Chile). But I must say I am thank­ful to the Poly­clin­ic (at the Games) that helped dur­ing the process," said Stew­art.

The 2016 Rio Par­a­lympic and 2017 World Para-ath­let­ic cham­pi­on adds that he had to cope with the chilly weath­er con­di­tions in Chile dur­ing the com­pe­ti­tion.

He said, "It feels great. Go­ing out there (and) com­ing back home with the medal, for the third time, the third con­sec­u­tive time. The weath­er con­di­tion was a lit­tle bit tough. It was cold (and) hard to warm up but at the end of the day I went out and ac­com­plished what I set out to do."

His gold medal tri­umph in Chile brings his Para Pan Am Games medal tal­ly to five as he al­so won gold in the men's F 44 javelin throw in 2015 and sil­ver in 2019. How­ev­er, the 2011 dou­ble Carif­ta medal­list told Guardian Me­dia Sports on his re­turn to Trinidad and To­ba­go on Wednes­day morn­ing that due to in­jury con­cerns, he no longer com­petes in the javelin.

"I of­fi­cial­ly stopped (com­pet­ing in the) javelin for a while be­cause of in­jury and is very cost­ly to do re­ha­bil­i­ta­tion so (I will) main­ly (be do­ing the) dis­cus and shot put (throws) next sea­son," said Stew­art.

The Carn­bee, To­ba­go res­i­dent added that his gold medal hat­trick in Chile is a morale boost­er as he pre­pares for the 2024 sea­son.

"I know it is a step in the right di­rec­tion. Based on what I did in the com­pe­ti­tion I know I am on track to hope­ful­ly win gold (at the 2024 Par­a­lympic Games) in Paris. I al­so have (the) World (Para-ath­let­ics) Champs in Kobe, Japan in May so I am ad­just­ing things step by step."