Team USA’s roster of Paralympic athletes is nearly complete. The only spots still up for grabs are the track and field berths, which will be decided this weekend at the Paralympic Trials in Miramar, Florida. To be fair, that’s a big chunk of the overall team—track and field will account for nearly one-fourth of the nation’s Paris contingent. It will also provide a lot of Team USA’s star power, with high-profile amputees like Ezra Frech, Hunter Woodhall, Blake Leeper, and Jeremy Campbell.
For reasons not worth untangling, the US only sent 30 track and field athletes to the World Championships back in May. The Paralympic track and field team will have nearly twice as many slots, with 54. Even so, there are elite US performers who might not make it to Paris. There are also some intriguing rivalries between teammates who might both get to Paris but are jockeying for position to reach the medal podium.
It all unfolds tomorrow starting at 4:30 pm Eastern, and runs through the weekend, with live coverage on Peacock and CNBC. Get more info at usparatf.org, and follow the results live on your phone at halfmiletiming.com.
Here are some of the major amputee-related storylines we’ll be following.
Last hurrah for Scout Bassett?
By now, Bassett’s achievements away from the track (as a model, author, philanthropist, and advocate) transcend her sporting triumphs. But she still burns to compete, and this is probably the 35-year-old’s final shot to wear a Paralympic uniform. A true pioneer in women’s parasports, Bassett still ranks among the world’s best sprinters in the T63 classification. Trouble is, two of her US teammates are running faster this year, and it’s not likely the team will select three T63 women. “Sport has always been my anchor,” Bassett wrote earlier this year. She’ll need a buoyant performance to make it to Paris.
Can Jonathan Gore complete the comeback?
Just three years ago at the Tokyo Games, Gore was a fast-rising parasports newcomer. He finished a strong 4th in the 200m (T64) and made the finals of the 100m, putting himself in excellent position for a podium finish in 2024. But injuries and prosthetic mishaps set him back in 2023; although he won a silver in the Parapan American Games, his times were considerably slower than his ’21 marks. Gore seemed worse than a longshot to make the US team until the Desert Challenge Games in late May, when he posted an 11.40 in the 100m and a 23.01 in the 200m—marks that equalled or surpassed the medal-winning times at the World Championships one week earlier. Was his Desert Games breakthrough just a mirage? The men’s T64 sprints loom as must-see viewing at this year’s Trials.
Is there room for Rohn?
This wounded veteran has been throwing the discus for more than a decade, racking up two gold medals at the Invictus Games and a silver in the Parapans. But he’s had the bad luck to compete in a classification (T64) that’s occupied by two US world champions, Jeremy Campbell and David Blair. Both of them will be vying for Paris roster spots this weekend, which might crowd Rohn out of the Paralympic picture yet again. He’s flinging the disc as well as ever; his season-best throw (52.33 meters) would be medal-worthy in many elite international meets. At age 37, he may not have a lot of chances left to make a Paralympic team. We’re rooting for him.
Which friendly rivals will get the upper hand?
Not every intriguing race this weekend will have a roster spot on the line. Some will involve teammates who are both likely to make the Paralympic team, but who are so evenly matched that they go all-out every time they compete head-to-head. There may be nothing on the line but pride in the contests below, but we’ll still follow them closely.
Noelle Lambert and Lindi Marcusen, 100 meters (T63): These two have been one-upping each other all year in this race. At the US Nationals back in March, both women broke the existing US record, but Marcusen came out on top by .03 of a second. Both sprinters have reduced their times since then, with Lambert now the record-holder by .09 seconds—and more than a full second faster than the 4th-place time she posted in Tokyo. Either could break through in Paris, so this race at the Trials could be a podium preview.
Beatriz Hatz and Sydney Barta, 200 meters (T64): This contest has been simmering for several years, with both women hovering around the fringes of the podium in both the 100 and 200 meters. At this year’s World Championships, both made the medal stand in the 200, with just .24 seconds separating them. They also shared the podium in two events (100m and 200m) at the Parapan American Games last fall, and they finished just .18 seconds apart in the 200m final at the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago. The wild-card in all of this could be Femita Ayanbeku, who’s just getting back into competitive shape after giving birth to her first child six months ago.
Blake Leeper and Hunter Woodhall, 100 / 400 meters (T62): These are two of the most recognizable US paratrack athletes of the last decade, but despite sharing a classification, they haven’t raced head to head very often until this year. Woodhall has had the upper hand in 2024, besting Leeper at Worlds in both the 100m and 400m races. If we’re honest, Woodhall probably considers his rivalry with German racer Johannes Floors to be more fiery than his competition with Leeper, who hasn’t appeared in the Paralympics since 2012. But it’s not very often that two multi-time Paralympic medalists square off at the US track Trials. So we’ll be savoring this matchup.
