by Sept. 2 — PARIS — South Dakota’s Miles Krajewski teamed with partner Jayci Simon to win the United States’ first Para badminton medal at the Paralympic Games on Monday in Paris.
The duo won the silver medal on Monday, Sept. 2, falling 21-14, 21-12 to China’s Naili Lin and Fengmei Li in the gold medal match at Porte de La Chapelle Arena. Krajewski graduated from Yankton High School earlier this year and will attend the University of South Dakota this fall as a business major.
Their path to silver included two wins over world No. 2 Sivarajan Solaimalai and India’s Nithya Sivan, once in the group stage and later in the semifinals. Krajewski and Simon are both 19 and competing in their first Paralympic Games. Simon is from St. Johns, Michigan. Krajewski and Simon played in the SH6 division, which is reserved for athletes with achondroplasia and short stature.
“Nobody expected to win a silver medal,” Krajewski told Team USA.com. “But deep down, we knew we had a chance to win it all. So we came out here, did our best and made it to the final.”
The medal is the first and best result by an American pair at the Paralympic Games, and the best result by a team from the Pan American region (North, South and Central America).
“I think it’s really going to help us in the future,” Krajewski said. “Getting all that experience and knowledge from playing in front of such a big crowd, with such experienced players, I think it’s going to help us in the long run.”
Krajewski reached the quarterfinals in singles in Paris, losing in three games to Brazilian Vitor Tavares. Ironically, Tavares is Krajewski’s regular partner in men’s doubles in other para badminton events, where they have reached the world number one ranking.
Krajewski has been playing badminton since he was 10 years old and competed in his first international tournament that same year. He narrowly missed out on representing Team USA at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics by just one spot.
Krajewski has already won two gold medals at the Santiago 2023 Parapan American Games and two bronze medals at the 2024 world championships in Pattaya, Thailand.
