When she reflects on where she’s been, Chelsea Stein can’t help but smile. “I definitely won the lottery,” she said. Stein isn’t exaggerating. As a disabled orphan in China, Stein’s odds of prospering were not much better than win...
There is a pretty simple reason why Kaitlin Bounds loves to run, much less run competitively. “It frees me from the autism,” Bounds said. “The autism just controls my entire mindset in life. When I get to run, I’m free from it and I feel lik...
Even with one Paralympics and two U.S. Paralympic Team Trials under her belt, Lindi Marcusen is still looking to rack up as much international experience as she canThe 29-year-old from Spokane, Washington, competes in the 100-meter and long jump T63, f...
When Tahmar Upshaw steps onto the track, he repeats a simple mantra: In order to change, I have to be something I’m not. “When I get on the line,” Upshaw said, “if you want to compete, you have to surpass your previous self. Find something el...
During the Paralympic Summer Games Paris 2024, Tatyana McFadden won two medals and brought her career total to 22, making her the most-decorated American Paralympic track-and-field athlete of all time. On April 7, McFadden had to make more room in...
For Brittni Mason, being a part of Team USA isn’t just about medals. It’s an experience that keeps evolving in unexpected ways. As a standout on the track, Mason has won five medals over the last two Paralympic Games — and four more at the World Para A...
In a famous scene in “Hoosiers,” coach Norman Dale brought in a tape measure to prove that the basket was 10 feet high and the free-throw line 15 feet away. The team had just walked into the fieldhouse for the state championship game and were stunned b...
Coming into the 2025 season, Hannah Dederick had been succeeding as a wheelchair racer for many years. At the Paralympic Games Paris 2024 in the women’s 400-meter T54 she finished in fourth place. That matched her result in the 100-meter at...
At her core, there is one word that defines Alicia Guerrero — a word that conveys who she is as a person, an athlete and a member of the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation. “One word?” Guerrero said, pausing for a moment. “I would say ‘resilience.’” Afte...
At just 17 years old, Arelle Middleton is young to be a world traveler, but that’s what happens when you dominate in an international sport.The Rancho Cucamonga, California, native traveled to Paris in 2024 to make her Paralympic debut, earning a silve...
