Abbeville native and Oxford High graduate Shelby McEwen cleared 2.36 meters on Saturday to claim silver at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

McEwen and Hamish Kerr of New Zealand each missed all three attempts at 2.38m. The men could have chosen to share the gold medal but instead agreed to a jump-off.

After 11 consecutive failed attempts in both regulation and the jump-off, Kerr finally cleared 2.34 meters, securing the gold and McEwen took the silver.

Kerr and McEwen also won gold and silver at the 2024 World Indoor Championships earlier this year in Glasgow.

Qatari Mutaz Essa Barshim took bronze.

The 2.36 meters by McEwen and Kerr were area records and a personal best for McEwen.

McEwen’s athletic career started at Oxford High School, where he balanced basketball and track from 2013-2015. After graduating in 2015, he went to Northwest Mississippi Community College where he excelled in track and basketball.

The son of Michael and Sharon McEwen, he received a scholarship to the University of Alabama from 2017-19 where he continued to earn numerous All-American and All-SEC accolades.

At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, McEwen finished 12th overall in the high jump.

McEwen is the Oxford area’s second Olympic silver medalist. Last week, former Ole Miss track and field star and Oxford native Sam Kendricks earned a silver medal in the men’s pole vault event.