USA Triathlon Announces 2023 U.S. Elite Paratriathlon National Team
February 14, 2023
11-member team includes six Paralympic triathlon medalists and seven world champions.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. /ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/ – USA Triathlon today announced the 11 members of the 2023 U.S. Elite Paratriathlon National Team, the group of elite paratriathletes who will represent the U.S. at the highest levels of elite paratriathlon competition during the 2023 season, a pivotal year before the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Qualification for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games starts this year with the Paralympic qualification period beginning on July 1, 2023. Automatic selection events in 2023 will be the 2023 World Triathlon Para Cup Paris on Aug. 19 and the 2023 World Triathlon Para World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain on Sept. 20-24. The finalized U.S. Paralympic (and Olympic) qualification procedures will be published and released soon.
“The group of elite athletes named to the 2023 U.S. Elite Paratriathlon Team have strong podium potential in the ever-improving elite ranks and are contenders for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games,” said Lindsey Jerdonek, USA Triathlon Elite Paralympic Manager. “Through world-class coaching and access to training resources and facilities, these athletes have what it takes to continue to win medals consistently on the international stage.”
The talented roster includes six Paralympic triathlon medalists and seven world champions. The team will compete at World Triathlon Para Series events and World Triathlon Para Cup events throughout the 2023 season.
USA Triathlon values its role in helping further professionalize the sport of paratriathlon and continuing to be at the forefront in equitable treatment of all elite athletes. For the second consecutive year, each member of the 2023 U.S. Elite Paratriathlon National Team will receive direct athlete support stipends equal to that of the funding the athletes on the 2023 U.S. Elite National Team receive. The 2023 U.S. Elite National Team will be announced next Tuesday, Feb. 21.
2023 U.S. Elite Paratriathlon National Team Roster
ELITE WOMEN
Colorado Springs, Colo., PTS2 classification
Danz won her second consecutive world title in the PTS2 category at the 2022 World Triathlon Para World Championships in Abu Dhabi and has eight World Championships medals in her career. She won silver at the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020, matching her 2016 silver medal from Rio to become a two-time PTS2 Paralympic silver medalist. Danz is a member of the U.S. Paratriathlon Resident Team Program that trains at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
San Antonio, Texas, PTS4
A U.S. Army veteran, Elmlinger won silver at the 2022 World Triathlon Para World Championships. She debuted on the elite paratriathlon circuit in 2018 and made her first Paralympic appearance in Tokyo, classing up to race in the PTS5 classification. Her PTS4 classification will be included in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games program that will feature 11 medal events for paratriathlon, three more than the Tokyo Paralympic Games. Elmlinger won the 2021 world championship.
Downers Grove, Ill, PTWC
Gretsch is a two-sport star and one of only five U.S. Paralympians to win gold medals in both the summer and winter Paralympic Games. At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, she won the first women’s triathlon wheelchair race in Paralympic history in a dramatic, thrilling finish. She followed that performance six months later by winning two medals (one gold) in biathlon and cross-country skiing at the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, giving her six Paralympic medals in her career. She ended the 2022 paratriathlon season with silver at the 2022 World Triathlon Para World Championships.
Bloomington, Ind., PTS5
Norman had a dominant 2022, winning her third world title and seventh career World Championships medal to cap an undefeated season. Norman earned Paralympic silver in the PTS5 category in Tokyo to go with her 2016 gold medal from Rio. A 2020 graduate of Norman Cedarville University in Ohio, Norman competed on the NCAA track and cross-country teams and also represented Cedarville at the 2019 USA Triathlon Collegiate Club National Championships, joining Allysa Seely as the first two paratriathletes to compete at the event.
Glendale, Ariz., PTS2
At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Seely became the only female two-time Paralympic gold medalist in triathlon, adding to the gold medal she won in paratriathlon’s Paralympic debut at the Paralympic Games Rio 2016. Seely is also a three-time World Paratriathlon champion, and in 2019 won an ESPY for Best Female Athlete with a Disability. She serves on the USA Triathlon Board of Directors.
Colorado Springs, Colo., PTS2
A U.S. Army veteran, Tokyo 2020 Paralympian and Rio 2016 Paralympic bronze medalist, Stockwell won silver in the PTS2 category at the 2022 World Championships. It was the seventh World Championships medal in her career. A member of the U.S. Paratriathlon Resident Team Program, Stockwell is the co-founder of the Chicago-based Dare2tri nonprofit. She is a three-time world champion (2010, 2011, 2012).
ELITE MEN
Colorado Springs, Colo., PTVI
A member of the U.S. Paratriathlon Resident Team Program in Colorado Springs, Coon races in the PTVI category. He won his first career U.S. Paratriathlon National Championship in 2022, followed by a fifth-place finish at the 2022 World Championships. He earned the bronze at the 2021 World Championships.
Salisbury, Md., Guide, PTVI
Goodman has guided Coon since 2019 after meeting Coon at Camp No Sight No Limits, a camp for elite visually impaired paratriathletes. Goodman guided Coon to his first U.S. national championship in 2022. Paratriathlon guides are considered full-fledged U.S. National Team members by USA Triathlon, receiving support at the same capacity as the paratriathletes themselves.
Gilbert, Ariz., PTS5
Hammer is the first paratriathlete to earn a standard USA Triathlon elite license and became the first paratriathlete to race in the elite field at an IRONMAN 70.3. A two-time fourth place finisher at the Paralympics (Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020), Hammer in 2022 moved his family from West Virginia to Arizona to train with USA Triathlon’s elite training squad, Project Podium, becoming the program’s first paratriathlete to train alongside Olympic hopefuls. Hammer won the 2021 world championship.
Elk Grove, Calif, PTS2
Lahna was born and raised in Morocco and represented Morocco at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, winning bronze in the PTS2 category. A resident of California since 2011, Lahna officially raced for Team USA for the first time in 2021 and last season represented the red, white and blue at the 2022 World Championships where he finished fourth.
Pittsburgh, Pa., PTS4
A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, McElvenny is a 2006 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. He started his elite paratriathlon career in 2019, and made his Paralympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games where he placed sixth.
2023 World Triathlon Para Season Schedule
U.S. elite paratriathletes will compete in World Triathlon Para races across the world this season, with the 2023 World Triathlon Para Cup Abu Dhabi kicking off international competition on March 3.
Domestically, the 2023 Americas Triathlon Para Championships Sarasota on March 12 in Sarasota, Florida, offers elite competition on home soil for elite and developmental paratriathletes.
The season will also include the 2023 World Triathlon Para Cup Paris, as part of World Triathlon’s Paris Test Event. The races will take place in the same venue that will host the triathlon and paratriathlon competitions during the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
2023 World Triathlon Para Cup Abu Dhabi – March 3
• 2023 Americas Triathlon Para Championships Sarasota – March 12
• 2023 World Triathlon Para Series Devonport – March 18
• 2023 Americas Triathlon Cup St. Peters Missouri – April 15-16
• 2023 World Triathlon Para Series Yokohama – May 13
• 2023 World Triathlon Para Cup A Coruna – June 11
• 2023 World Triathlon Para Cup Besancon – June 17
• 2023 World Triathlon Para Series Montreal – July 8-9
• 2023 World Triathlon Para Cup Long Beach – July 15-16
• 2023 World Triathlon Para Series Swansea – July 15
• 2023 World Triathlon Para Cup Paris – Aug. 19
• 2023 World Triathlon Para Championships Pontevedra – Sept. 22-24- 2023 World Triathlon Para Cup Alhandra – Oct. 7-8
For more information about U.S. elite paratriathlon, visit usaparatriathlon.org.
About USA Triathlon
USA Triathlon is proud to serve as the National Governing Body for triathlon, as well as duathlon, aquathlon, aquabike, winter triathlon, off-road triathlon, paratriathlon, and indoor and virtual multisport events in the United States. Founded in 1982, USA Triathlon sanctions more than 4,000 races and connects with more than 400,000 members each year, making it the largest multisport organization in the world. In addition to its work at the grassroots level with athletes, coaches, and race directors — as well as the USA Triathlon Foundation — USA Triathlon provides leadership and support to elite athletes competing at international events, including World Triathlon Championships, Pan American Games and the Olympic and Paralympic Games. USA Triathlon is a proud member of World Triathlon and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC).
– usatriathlon.org –
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