Track & Field Preview
The U.S. Paralympic track and field team will look to continue its momentum at this summer’s Paralympic Games in Tokyo after one of its most successful Paralympic Games performances in program history in 2016 in Rio. Team USA won 42 medals — 16 gold, 15 silver and 11 bronze — and several U.S. athletes picked up multiple medals including Tatyana McFadden, Deja Young, Ray Martin, Roderick Townsend, Chelsea McClammer and Amanda McGrory, resulting in the team’s best finish since the Paralympic Games Atlanta 1996. And all those athletes will be back in Tokyo, headlining the 61-member roster.
That roster was finalized following the U.S. Paralympic Team Trials for Track and Field in June 2021, where numerous athletes had record-breaking performances while booking their places in Tokyo. Standouts included javelin thrower Justin Phongsavanh, headed to his first Games after a world-record throw of 33.29 meters. Sprinter Femita Ayanbeku blew away a 15-year-old American record in the 100-meter T64 with a time of 12.84. And Nick Mayhugh, a converted soccer player, broke a world record in the 100 and the American record in the 200.
The qualification process for Tokyo began with the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, where Team USA earned 34 medals, including 11 gold. The competition also saw a breakout performance from Team USA’s budding star, Brittni Mason, who will look to build off her gold-medal performance.
The youngest generation of Team USA showed well at the 2019 World Para Athletics Junior Championships where emerging talents Hannah Dederick, Noah Malone and Ezra Frech made their names known with multi-medal performances. They will be some of the youngest competitors on Team USA’s track and field roster this summer.
Paralympic medalists Townsend, Martin, David Brown, David Blair, Lex Gillette, Gianfranco Iannotta, Mikey Brannigan and Sam Grewe will lead the men’s delegation in Tokyo along with Daniel Romanchuk, Malone and Isaac Jean-Paul, who are primed to take the spotlight this summer.
On the women’s side, McFadden, Young, McGrory, McClammer, Ayanbeku, Breanna Clark and Kym Crosby will seek to repeat their medal performances at the 2020 Games, while Jaleen Roberts, Taleah Williams and Dederick could have breakthroughs in Tokyo.
At the Tokyo Games, there will be a total of 168 medal events in track and field with competition running from Aug. 27-Sept. 4. The marathon will be one of the final competitions closing the Paralympic Games on Sept. 5.
Updated on July 20, 2021. For more information, contact the sport press officer.