The 2024 Paralympics saw athletes competing in 549 medal events over 22 sports in the span of only 11 days of competition—not to mention the time difference in Paris, which added to the challenge of keeping track of all the contenders. In this wrap-up, we’ve highlighted some of the compelling US athletes with limb loss and their stories from this year’s games—the ups and downs, the thrills and the heartbreaks.
First Medal at Age 38
At his first Paralympics 20 years ago, Mark Barr (then an S9 swimmer) finished fourth in two races, missing the podium by a mere 0.6 seconds in one instance. Twelve years later, in Rio, Barr (by then a triathlete) again narrowly missed the podium, this time by an agonizing 16 seconds. His classification (PTS2) didn’t race at the Tokyo Games, so Barr had to wait eight long years for another crack at a medal, winning bronze in Paris.
Getting Back Into Competition After Amputation
Ali Truwit, a former collegiate swimmer at Yale, underwent a transtibial amputation after a shark attack just 15 months before her appearance at this year’s Games. Six months into her recovery she was back in the pool participating in the paraswimming events that led her to a pair of silver medals in S10 classification.
The Armless Archer Wins Gold
Despite being the world’s most recognizable para-archer and three-time Paralympian, Matt Stutzman, also known as the Armless Archer, entered the 2024 Games with just one Paralympic medal (a silver from 2012). To reach the gold-medal match this year in the men’s compound open, he had to win harrowing tiebreakers—one-arrow shoot-offs to determine the winner in deadlocked matches—in both the semifinals and the round of 16. Stutzman also set a new Paralympic record in the finals by racking up 149 points, a single point shy of a perfect score, topping off what he says will be his final Paralympic appearance.
A Matter of Perspective
While it doesn’t seem fair to label a Paralympic performance that earned five silver medals disappointing, you couldn’t blame swimmer Ellie Marks for feeling a bit frustrated that she didn’t reach the top of the medal stand in Paris. Marks is used to winning—she claimed two golds at the most recent World Championships and earned a gold medal at both the 2016 and 2020 Paralympics. In two of her races (the 50m freestyle and 100m backstroke), it took a record-breaking performance to beat her, and in both cases the record breaker was China’s Yuyan Jiang, who won seven gold medals at these Games. Marks’ fellow US competitors found nothing wanting in her performance: They honored her by choosing Marks as one of the two flag-bearers for the closing ceremonies.
Team Victories
The United States became the first nation ever to win three consecutive Paralympic gold medals in men’s wheelchair basketball. Starters Brian Bell, who lost his right leg at age ten, and Trevon Jenifer, who has a congenital amputation, both played key roles in the tournament. Bell lit up the scoreboard for 31 points in the semifinals against Canada, then scored seven crucial fourth-quarter points to seal the championship game against Great Britain.
The US women’s sitting volleyball team prevailed in their long-running rivalry with China. For the fifth straight Paralympics, these two nations have faced each other in the gold medal match; China won the first two (in 2008 and 2012), while Team USA has won the last three. Heather Erickson led Team USA with 96 points in the tournament, including a dominant 28-point performance in the championship match.
Disappointment for Kelly Elmlinger
Kelly Elmlinger came to Paris as the prohibitive favorite in the women’s PTS4 paratriathlon classification, which includes athletes with unilateral amputations. She hadn’t missed a podium since 2018, and she had won every race she entered in the last two seasons. But Elmlinger had to withdraw on race day due to an unspecified illness. It was the second consecutive Paralympic disappointment for Elmlinger, who in 2020 was forced to race in the more difficult PTS5 classification (against two-legged racers) because there weren’t enough PTS4 qualifiers to stage a race. Despite dominating the PTS4 field for half a decade, she remains without a Paralympic medal.
Noelle Malkamaki Dominates
Although she’s lived her whole life with a congenital limb difference, Noelle Malkamaki had not considered parasports until after the Tokyo Games in 2020. And even then, she considered herself “not disabled enough” and had to be cajoled into participating. The rest of the F46 shotput classification probably wishes Malkamaki had never gotten involved. She beat the field by nearly two meters in Paris; even the worst of her sixth throws flew a full meter further than the second-place distance. Malkamaki’s winning mark of 14.06 meters broke her own world record by nearly half a meter.
Prime-time Performance
Ezra Frech was a favorite going into the competition to win gold in the high jump (T63). He’s the world record–holder in the event, and he took gold at last year’s World Championships. But he surprised the spectators when he won a second gold in the 100m. He’d never reached the podium in that event in a worldwide meet, much less the top tier. Frech seemed much better positioned to medal in the long jump, where he finished a strong fourth at the Worlds back in May. But he ran a career-best time (12.06 seconds) when it mattered most. He’ll head back home to start his freshman year at the University of Southern California, where he’ll be the first person with a transfemoral amputation to compete on an NCAA Division 1 track scholarship. And he’s already locked into place as the face of the 2028 Paralympics, which will take place in his hometown of Los Angeles.
Hunter Woodhall Follows Wife Tara Davis-Woodhall to the Podium
Hunter Woodhall capped a long, eventful summer in Paris with his first Paralympic gold medal. Earlier this summer NBC’s cameras captured Woodhall in the stands during the Olympics celebrating his wife Tara’s gold medal win in the long jump. Then, during the interval between the Olympics and Paralympics, a bout with COVID disrupted preparations for his own events. He finished a distant sixth in his first race, the 100m (T64)—though he was the only competitor with bilateral amputations in a field of runners with unilateral amputations. In his signature race, the 400m (T62), Woodhall outpaced world record–holder Johannes Floors, then found Tara in the stands to reprise their Olympic celebration.
Other Notable 2024 Amputee Competitors
Rookies Rock the Medal Stand
Eight athletes with limb loss who were competing in their first Paralympics won medals for Team USA. That’s double the number who scored medals in Tokyo. US rookie stars included Noelle Malkamaki, Derek Loccident, who won silver medals in both the high jump and long jump, swimmer Ali Truwit, and 16-year-old Arelle Middleton, the youngest American medalist at these Games (silver in shotput F64).
Returning Veterans
Five-time Paralympian Jessica Long, and second-time competitor Morgan Stickney (who competed in a new classification (S7) after revision surgery to shorten her residual limbs in 2022) both took gold in their respective swimming events. And Stickney won a silver in 100m freestyle.
Jeremy Campbell returned for his fifth Paralympics with a gold medal in discus.
Veteran Paralympian and fan favorite of both summer and winter Games, Oksana Masters, won gold in two cycling categories.
Blake Leeper returned for the first time since the 2012 London Games and just missed the podium, coming in at fourth place.
Coverage courtesy of our sister magazine, Amplitude.
For a complete list of US amputee medal winners, visit livingwithamplitude.com/paralympics-results-amputees-team-usa.
Photographs in order: Joe Kusumoto/USOPC, Holly Fischer, Abaca Press/Alamy, SeanBurges/Alamy, DudleyLittle/Alamy, AFLOsports/Alamy, Alamy, JulianStratenschulte/Alamy, Nippon News/AFLOSPORT/Alamy, dpaPictureAlliance/Alamy. Â
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