COLORADO
SPRINGS, COLORADO – U.S. Paralympics Swimming today announced the 33 swimmers –
21 women and 12 men – who have been nominated to the 2024 Paralympic Team following
three days of U.S. Paralympic Team Trials – Swimming competition.
The team
will bring a wealth of experience on the world stage to the Paralympic Games
Paris 2024. The 33 athletes named to the team have combined for a career 69
Paralympic. Twenty-three athletes have competed on the Paralympic stage before,
while 10 are set to make their Paralympic debuts.
“We are
exceptionally proud of these athletes, who represent the best that Team USA has
to offer,” Erin Popovich, director, U.S. Paralympics Swimming, said. “They have
taken full advantage of the shortened, three-year Paralympic quad since Tokyo,
and we are so excited to support them as they compete against the best in the
world this summer.”
Headlining
the veteran squad is 29-time Paralympic medalist Jessica Long (Baltimore,
Maryland), who makes her team-leading sixth Paralympic Team. One of the
all-time Para swimming greats, Long has amassed 54 world championship medals –
37 of which are gold – throughout her storied career. She will now look to
write the next chapter in Paris.
Four U.S.
swimmers will compete at the Paralympic level for the fourth time in their
careers. Paralympic champions Mallory Weggemann (Eagan, Minnesota), Evan Austin
(Terre Haute, Indiana) and McKenzie Coan (Clarkesville, Georgia), as well as
three-time Paralympic medalist Colleen Young (St. Louis, Missouri) all
qualified for Paris after competing together in London 2012, Rio de Janeiro
2016, and Tokyo 2020.
All four
have experienced success on the Paralympic stage as well. Coan is a six-time
Paralympic medalist and four-time champion, Weggemann a five-time medalist and
three-time champion, and Austin a two-time medalist and one-time champion.
Young, meanwhile, has two silvers and a bronze to her name.
After
tying her own world record in the women’s 100-meter backstroke S6 at trials,
Elizabeth Marks (Colorado Springs, Colorado) earns a spot on her third
Paralympic Team. Marks, who is a Sergeant First Class in the U.S. Army and a
member of the Army’s World Class Athlete Program (WCAP), has won five
Paralympic medals in her career and is the defending 100-meter backstroke S6
Paralympic champion.
She will
be joined by teammate and fellow backstroke specialist Hannah Aspden (Raleigh,
North Carolina), who is also making her third Paralympic appearance. Aspden
most recently won double gold in Tokyo in the 100-meter backstroke S9 and as a
member of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay 34 points. She also has two bronze
medals from Rio.
Rounding
out the athletes competing in their third Paralympic Games are three-time
Paralympic medalist Lizzi Smith (Muncie, Indiana) and University of Minnesota
swimmer Natalie Sims (Edina, Minnesota). Smith and Sims both compete in the S9
classification and combine for 12 world championship medals between them. Smith
is the defending Paralympic silver medalist in the 100-meter butterfly.
A host of
Team USA swimmers, including several medalists from Tokyo, were named to their
second Paralympic roster. Teenage phenoms in Tokyo Anastasia Pagonis (Long
Island, New York) and Gia Pergolini (Atlanta, Georgia) each won the first
Paralympic medals of their career in world record fashion at their first
Paralympic Games, and will seek title repeats in Paris. Pagonis’ victory came
in the women’s 400-meter freestyle S11, while Pergolini’s was in the women’s
100-meter backstroke S13. Both athletes have taken time off during the quad,
but returned to Para swimming in top form.
Two-time
Paralympic champion Morgan Stickney (Cary, North Carolina) set a world record
in the women’s 400-meter freestyle S7 at trials this weekend en route to
qualifying for her second Paralympic Team. Stickney, who won the event in the
S8 class in Tokyo, has since been reclassified and is continuing to dominate as
a distance freestyler.
Tokyo
medalists David Abrahams (Havertown, Pennsylvania), Leanne Smith (Salem,
Massachusetts), Ahalya Lettenberger (Glen Ellyn, Illinois), Julia Gaffney
(Little Rock, Arkansas), Jamal Hill (Inglewood, California) and Matthew Torres (Ansonia, Connecticut) all qualified for the
Paris Games. Abrahams, Leanne Smith and Lettenberger brought home silver in the
100-meter breaststroke SB13, 100-metewr freestyle S3 and the 200-meter
individual medley SM7, respectively, and all three athletes put together podium
performances at the 2023 Para Swimming World Championships.
Also
returning to Team USA from the Tokyo team are Paralympians Summer Schmit (Stillwater, Minnesota), Keegan
Knott (Lake Villa, Illinois), Zachary Shattuck (Mount Airy, Maryland) and
Lawrence Sapp (Waldorf, Maryland), all of whom put together impressive trials
performances and are seeking to podium at a Games for the first time.
Competing
in his second Games, but first for Team USA is Abbas Karimi (Fort Lauderdale,
Florida), who raced in Tokyo as a member of the Refugee Paralympic Team, but
has since gained U.S. citizenship and eligibility to compete as an American.
Karimi, who is a 2022 world champion and served as flag bearer for the Refugee
Paralympic Team, was born in Afghanistan and fled at age 16 before immigrating
to the U.S. four years later.
Ten
athletes are set to make their Paralympic debuts in Paris. The first-time
Paralympians are led by Noah Jaffe (Carlsbad, California) and Olivia Chambers
(Little Rock, Arkansas), whose breakout performances at the 2023 world
championships earned them six medals apiece in their first major international
meets. Jaffe was also crowned world champion in the men’s 100-meter freestyle
S8. World champion Christie Raleigh Crossley (Toms River, New Jersey), who won
the women’s 100-meter backstroke S9 at the same meet, qualifies for her first
Paralympic Team, as does 2022 world championships silver medalist Morgan Ray (St. Augustine, Florida), who was
an alternate on the Tokyo team.
Five
athletes will make their Games debuts having not competed at a world
championships before. Four of them – Grace Nuhfer (Greenwood, Indiana), Yaseen
El-Demerdash (Overland Park, Kansas), Evan Wilkerson (Rolesville, North
Carolina), Jack O’Neil (Colorado Springs, Colorado) – won medals at the 2023
Parapan American Games in Santiago, Chile, where they combined for 17 medals.
Winnett, who impressed at trials in Minneapolis, led the way with seven,
including a hat trick of gold in the 100-meter backstroke and butterfly S10 and
the 200-meter individual medley SM10.
El-Demerdash
also snagged Parapan Am gold in the 100-meter backstroke S10. O’Neil brought
home three silvers and Wilkerson earned a silver and a bronze. Nuhfer, who
swims at the University of Akron, took home a silver in her international
debut.
Rounding
out the team is Para newcomer Alexandra Truwit (Darien, Connecticut), who will
compete at her first major international competition in Paris. Truwit won
multiple women’s S10 events at trials to earn her first Paralympic roster spot.
Three
alternates – two women and one man – were also named to the roster. On the
women’s side, two-time Paralympian McClain Hermes (Dacula, Georgia) and
17-year-old Audrey Kim (Salt Lake City, Utah) will serve as alternates. The
men’s alternate will be 2023 Parapan American Games medalist Adin Williams
(Happy Valley, Oregon).
Swimming
at the 2024 Paralympic Games is set to be contested August 29-September 7.
For media
requests and photo inquiries, please contact Kristen Gowdy at
Kristen.Gowdy@usopc.org.
2024 U.S.
Paralympic Swimming Team
Men
David
Abrahams
Evan
Austin
Yaseen
El-Demerdash
Jamal
Hill
Noah
Jaffe
Abbas
Karimi
Jack
O’Neil
Morgan
Ray
Lawrence
Sapp
Zachary
Shattuck
Matthew
Torres
Evan
Wilkerson
Alternate:
Adin
Williams
Women
Hannah
Aspden
Olivia Chambers
McKenzie
Coan
Julia
Gaffney
Keegan
Knott
Ahalya
Lettenberger
Jessica
Long
Elizabeth
Marks
Grace
Nuhfer
Anastasia
Pagonis
Gia
Pergolini
Christie
Raleigh Crossley
Summer
Schmit
Natalie
Sims
Leanne
Smith
Lizzi
Smith
Morgan
Stickney
Alexandra
Truwit
Mallory
Weggemann
Taylor
Winnett
Colleen
Young
Alternates:
McClain
Hermes
Audrey
Kim Slovakia
