Paratriathlon Preview

Four years after making history in paratriathlon’s debut at the Paralympic Games Rio 2016, U.S. athletes hope to repeat their success in Tokyo. The U.S. women won more medals in paratriathlon than any other nation in Rio as Allysa Seely, Hailey Danz and Melissa Stockwell swept the first-ever women’s PT2 medal podium. Grace Norman earned another gold medal in the PT4 class to collect four of the nine medals awarded in women’s competition. 

All four women have had international success in the years since from world cups to world championships. With competition halted in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. paratriathletes returned to action in 2021 in preparation for Tokyo. In Leeds, England in June for the last event before the Games, Danz was one of four gold medalists from Team USA along with Kelly Elmlinger, Kendall Gretsch and Chris Hammer. 

All four of those athletes, plus the other medalists from Rio, will be on the 17-member roster for Tokyo. They’ll be joined by Paralympian Liz Baker (and guide Jillian Elliott) in PTVI and Amy Dixon (and guide Kirsten Sass) in PTVI. The rest of the men’s team is made up of Jamie Brown in PTS4, Kyle Coon (and guide Andy Potts) and Brad Snyder (and guide Colin Riley) in PTVI and Eric McElvenny in PTS4. 

The Paralympic triathlon consists of a 750-meter swim, a 20-kilometer bike ride and 5-kilometer run, all half the Olympic distances. Men and women compete separately and there are four classifications in each competition based on impairment. Paratriathlon competition takes place Aug. 28 and 29 at Odaiba Marine Park.

Updated on July 20, 2021. For more information, contact the sport press officer.

Two members of this year’s team have been to the Paralympic Games before, but not in paratriathlon. Kendall Gretsch won two gold medals in Nordic skiing at the Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, while Brad Snyder is a two-time Paralympian and seven-time medalist (5 golds, 2 silvers) in swimming. Additionally, Chris Hammer was a 2012 Paralympian in track and field, then returned to the Games in 2016 as a paratriathlete, and Melissa Stockwell competed in swimming at 2008 and triathlon in 2016.

Paratriathlon debuted at the 2016 Rio Games and competition has expanded from six events to eight. The increase of one event was in the standing classes, so athletes could find themselves competing against new rivals from five years ago.
Hailey Danz, 30, will compete in her second consecutive Paralympic Games hoping to improve on her silver medal from 2016. The 2013 world champion has six world championship medals overall and has 12 medals in ITU World Paratriathlon events. Earlier this year, Danz took the win at the Americas Triathlon Para Championships, an important race towards selection for the Paralympic team.

Eric McElvenny, 38, is one of the rising stars on the U.S. men’s team, making his Paralympic debut this year just two years after his international debut. That debut was a win, at the 2019 Sarasota-Bradenton CAMRI Paratriathlon American Championships. McElvenny added more hardware all in June 2021 as he won a bronze medal in the World Triathlon Para Series event in Leeds, England, then a silver medal at the World Triathlon Para Cup, and finally a win in the Americas Triathlon Para Championships.

Allysa Seely, 32, returns to the Paralympic Games for the second time looking to repeat her gold-medal performance from Rio. Seely is also a three-time world champion in 2015, 2016 and 2018 and won world silver medals in 2017 and 2019. Seely did double duty at the Rio Games, also competing in track and field and placing sixth in the T36 200-meter.

Melissa Stockwell, 41, has been one of the top paratriathletes in the world since competing in her first ITU event in 2009. Originally a Para swimmer, she was Team USA’s flag bearer at the 2008 Beijing Games, where she also became the first Iraq War veteran to compete for the U.S. at the Paralympics. Stockwell then quickly rose to the top of the paratriathlon world. She won three consecutive world titles from 2010 to 2012, and in 2016 qualified for the Paralympic debut of the sport. She’ll seek to improve on the bronze medal she won in Rio.
August 28, 2021: Paralympic competition opens with men’s PTS4 and PTVI and women’s PTS2 and PTVI. 
August 29, 2021: Men’s PTWC and PTS5 and women’s PTWC and PTS5