Increased Competition At Grand Prix Events This Year Should Pay Off In 2028 For U.S. Track-And-Field Athletes

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 can

The 29-year-old from Spokane, Washington, competes in the 100-meter and long jump T63, finishing sixth and eighth, respectively, at the Paralympic Games Paris 2024. 

But 2026 is an unusual year for Para track-and-field athletes since there is no world championships or Paralympics. That comes as the last bit of fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic that threw a big wrench into the track-and-field schedule in the past six years.

And while there isn’t that big event to point toward this year, 2026 really begins the formal preparations for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. 

Without a worlds or Paralympics, athletes from around the world will be participating more in the Grand Prix events, which are part of the Paralympic qualification process for the first time.

There are eight Grand Prix events this year, and three of them have already taken place. The next one, in Nottwil, Switzerland, will run from May 21-23.

For Marcusen, competing in a Grand Prix isn’t unusual. Those events are something that have been on her competition calendar for previous seasons. She will compete at Nottwil and Olomouc, Czechia, which runs July 2-4.

“I wanted the competition experience,” Marcusen said. “I kind of came into Para athletics late in my life. I was 21 when I lost my leg and then I had so many injuries, it took me a very long time to recover.”

She competed in the U.S. team trials ahead of the Tokyo Games but didn’t make the cut. Since then, she’s tried to compete as much as possible to get used to the international stage.

“I needed to kind of cram experience in and so that’s why I’ve prioritized competing at Grand Prix, especially overseas, just to get the experience under my belt,” she said. “I want to build a toolbox where I can go into any competition and feel like I can take on any situation that gets thrown at me and still focus on executing.”

Building that experience paid off for Marcusen. At the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Trials, set an Americas record in the 100 T63 at 14.87 seconds. After finishing in sixth place at Paris, Marcusen is hoping to reach the podium in 2028 in Los Angeles. 

Without a major international meet this year, the Grand Prix will suffice. Marcusen is using Nottwil as a checkup on where she is after recently undergoing a revision surgery on her amputated right leg — which she lost in 2017 due to a car accident — and adjusting her competition prosthetic.

While details are still pending, Grand Prix events are going to be more important rather than an afterthought for athletes as qualification procedures for the LA Paralympics become clear, according to Sherrice Fox, director of Paralympics for USA Track & Field. The Grand Prix circuit has not previously been part of the qualification process.

“Competition-wise, honestly, it’s going to work out to our benefit because our athletes are going to be able to see some of their top competitors throughout the year, where they otherwise would not have,” Fox said. “I think our wheelchair athletes do a really good job going to Grand Prix like Switzerland every year because they know that they’re going to get some of their top competitors there. But it’s honestly going to get a lot of our seated throwers out of the country and competing. It’s going to help them to understand how their bodies respond to travel and the stimulus that comes with that and just being able to work on recovery when they are on the road and dial in nutrition and hydration and those things. So I’m actually really excited about it from that standpoint.”

Fox said the increase in events will hopefully pay off with better performances at the next world championships (set for June 2027 in Uzbekistan) and the 2028 Games.

“I think the Grand Prix schedule is going to become a major advantage for us because I think it’s going to give our athletes a better baseline of where they’re at throughout the (four-year cycle) because they know they have to go compete against other Paralympic athletes and it’s just going to give them more of an indicator of where they actually are, more than just the year of the Games,” Fox said. “I think that’s worked out to our disadvantage in the past. We don’t really know where our athletes stack up against the rest of the world.”

Comparing times from different competitions isn’t enough, according to Fox. She believes the only way to get an accurate gauge of how U.S. athletes will handle bigger meets like words or the Paralympics is by lining up next to other world-class athletes and competing against them.  

“Having our athletes go to more competitions in 2026 and then, of course, 2027 leading into 2028, I think it’s going to give them three straight years of feedback and just data that they need and that we need to really see where we’re at going into LA”

Marcusen is looking forward to the added importance of the Grand Prix this year.

“That’s why I’ve prioritized going over there to get the competition experience against people in my classification,” she said. “I think a big problem, even in our country, is that we under-compete against each other. So, if there’s ways to have higher-caliber competitions where you’re going to have more athletes there to compete, that is going to breed better outcomes.”

Steve Drumwright is a journalist based in Murrieta, California. He is a freelance contributor to usatf.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.