by PARIS – The U.S. women’s Para-triathlon team completed a three-peat with Hailey Danz and Grace Norman winning gold Monday and Allysa Seely finishing third for bronze. All three women have reached the podium at the last three Paralympic Games.
According to Norman, triumph was something that made victory particularly meaningful.
“It’s really nice to see the American women so dominant,” she said. “The training in Vichy (France, where the team trained before the Games) was great and really prepared me for success here.”
Hailey and Seely finished first and third, respectively, in the PTS2 classification, which is for athletes with a severe degree of activity limitation. Triathlon classifications range from 1 to 5, with 1 being the most severe impairment.
Kendall Gretsch, who holds the rare distinction of competing and winning medals at both the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games, helped lead the United States in the women’s races by winning silver in the PTWC2 category (for wheelchair and lower limb athletes). It was her second medal, in addition to the gold from Tokyo.
The men were also out in force. Chris Hammer of Elkins, West Virginia, won gold in the PTS5 category. He credited his transition to a more professional training program after finishing fourth in Rio in 2016 and Tokyo, which was held in 2021 due to the pandemic.
He notably spent part of this summer training at nearly 7,000 feet in Park City, Utah.
“I’d never done altitude work like that before,” he said. “It was tough, I never had the confidence, but my coach told me it would work – and it did.”
Carson Clough of Charlotte, North Carolina, spent time with Hammer and it showed. Clough, who competes in the PTS4 category, finished second to win his first Paralympic medal.
Mohamed Lahna of Hayward, Calif. (PTS2 classification) won his second paratriathlon medal and first as a U.S. citizen with a silver. Mark Barr (PTS2) joined Lahna on the podium with his third-place finish.
Clough said the U.S. team showed its dedication on Monday.
“USA Triathlon walked the talk,” he said of the support the team received. “They let us do our jobs and taught us what we needed to know.”
This article was originally published on USA TODAY: Paralympic triathlon nets four medals for Americans
