HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Five U.S. elite paratriathletes qualified for the Paralympic Games Paris 2024 on Friday, March 8 at the 2024 Americas Paratriathlon Championships Miami, hosted by CLASH Endurance Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Punching their tickets to Paris 2024 include: Mark Barr (Davis, Calif., PTS2); Carson Clough (Charlotte, N.C., PTS4); Owen Cravens (Tempe, Ariz. PTVI), guided by Ben Hoffman (Tucson, Ariz.); Howie Sanborn (Denver, Colo., PTWC) and Melissa Stockwell (Colorado Springs, Colo., PTS2).
The five U.S. elite paratriathletes qualified for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games by winning their respective classifications on Friday. The race, held at Homestead-Miami Speedway, was the final auto-qualification opportunity for U.S. elite paratriathletes to qualify for the Paris 2024 Paralympics taking place this August and September.
The group of five qualified U.S. athletes on Friday join Hailey Danz (Wauwatosa, Wis., PTS2), Kelly Elmlinger (San Antonio, Texas, PTS4), Kendall Gretsch (Downers Grove, Ill., PTWC), Mohamed Lahna (Elk Grove, Calif., PTS2) and Grace Norman (Jamestown, Ohio, PTS5) who qualified for Paris 2024 at the 2023 World Triathlon Para Championships last September. All U.S. Paralympic Team nominations are pending final approval by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee.
Final spots on the U.S. Paralympic Team will be filled via discretion. Read here to learn more about U.S. Paralympic and Olympic qualification procedures.
A three-time Paralympian in paratriathlon and para swimming, Barr won the PTS2 men’s sprint-distance race on Friday in a time of 1 hour, 5 minutes, 8 seconds, nearly 4 minutes ahead of Colombia’s Juan Esteban Patiño Giraldo.
Barr represented the U.S. at the Athens 2004 Paralympics and Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games. A swimmer for NCAA Division I California Polytechnic State University, Barr was introduced to triathlon through the Challenged Athletes Foundation, racing at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio, where he placed fourth.
Clough won the men’s PTS4 race with a time of 59:06 to qualify for his first Paralympic Games. A newcomer to paratriathlon, Clough was first introduced to the sport through USA Triathlon's Virtual Combine, which recruits para athletes who show an interest in and talent for paratriathlon. He first competed in paratriathlon in 2022 and quickly advanced in the sport. A former NCAA Division I lacrosse player at the University of North Carolina, Clough is owner of a coffee business, Giddy Goat Coffee, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“I’m stoked. Stoked both for myself and my team around me! I wouldn't really be doing it without the team. We had an awesome crew today, as you probably heard, people from Baltimore, Seattle, Florida, Charlotte, all over. So, to qualify, it is a nice relief to kind of have it, have that side of everything going, but still a lot of work to do,” Clough said.
Cravens won the men’s PTVI title in a thrilling photo-finish, outsprinting fellow U.S. Elite Paratriathlon National Team member Kyle Coon, guided by Zack Goodman, to punch his ticket to Paris, which will be his first Paralympic Games. Cravens finished in 55:59, edging Coon who clocked in at 56:00. Cravens is a member of USA Triathlon's elite development squad, Project Podium, which trains together in a group environment in Tempe, Arizona. Cravens and three-time Paralympian Chris Hammer (Gilbert, Ariz.) are Project Podium’s first two paratriathlete members.
Sanborn won the men’s PTWC race, clocking a time of 56:05 to qualify for his first Paralympic Games. He is a retired U.S. Army veteran who served for 15 years as an Airborne Ranger and a demonstrator on the U.S. Army Parachute Team The Golden Knights. During his service with the Army, he began competing in triathlon. After sustaining an injury, nonprofit Dare2tri helped him transition from a triathlete to a paratriathlete.
“Huge race selection event for the Paris Games. I had kind of already locked up the country slot by being first in the world, so came here knowing I needed a big win, kind of a statement race. So, we just went as hard as we could and I’m just super excited about it,” said Sanborn, who will make his Paralympics debut in Paris. “I think like, some people think it's really easy to go, and they think they let everyone with a disability go, but we compete at such an extremely high level. So to get to finally go is huge. I'm so stoked."
The women’s PTS2 race belonged to Stockwell, who qualified for her fourth Paralympic Games. She clocked a time of 1:13:51, ahead of her U.S. teammates Danz and Allysa Seely (Glendale, Ariz.). The U.S. trio swept the podium at the Rio 216 Paralympics, with Seely winning, Danz earning silver and Stockwell the bronze at paratriathlon’s Paralympics debut.
A Second Lieutenant in the United States Army’s transportation corps, Stockwell in 2004 became the first female U.S. soldier to lose a limb in active combat after her vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. She was later honored with a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for her service. In 2006, she became the first Iraq War veteran to qualify for and compete at the Paralympic Games, competing in swimming at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics.
Other U.S. winners on Friday included Norman, who took the crown in the women’s PTS5 race and Elmlinger, who won gold in women's PTS4, a race classification that will make its Paralympics debut in Paris. She raced up a classification at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
"When I earned a spot to go to Tokyo, my classification wasn't a medal category so this will be the first year for me that I will actually be able to compete for a medal, so that's obviously exciting,” Elmlinger said. “Little bit of pressure, little bit of nerves, but also you know a lot of excitement. That's one thing I thought about, one thing I dreamed about."
Hammer, aiming to make his fourth Paralympic Games, finished second in men’s PTS5.
