BREAKING NEWS: Paratriathlon’s Gretsch and Norman Collect Gold and Silver for Team USA

Kendall Gretsch pulled off an incredible photo-finish victory clocking in at 1:06:25 while Australian’s Lauren Parker, the reigning world champion, took silver at 1:06:26 in the women’s paratriathlon PTWC2 on Sunday morning at the Odaiba Marine Park. Grace Norman won a silver medal in paratriathlon PTS5 with a time of 1:05:27 to celebrate Team USA’s fifth paratriathlon medal of the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020. 

Gretsch jumped out of the water in sixth place

and made a comeback in the bike where she ranked second in the pack up until the final stretch where she was neck-and-neck with Parker to become the Paralympic champion by one-tenth of a second. 

Gretsch becomes just the fifth American to win gold at both summer and winter Paralympic Games after making her Paralympic debut at the Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 where she won the 6km biathlon race, which marked the first women’s biathlon medal for the United States at the either the Olympics or Paralympics. The two-time Paralympian has won every first race she has ever competed in at the Paralympic Games including biathlon, cross country and now paratriathlon.

Norman’s silver marked her third Paralympic medal as she placed just behind Great Britain’s Lauren Steadman gold-medal finish (1:04:46) as the duo has been rival competitors in the world championship circuit over the last four years. 


Norman went down in history as the sport’s first female Paralympic gold medalist and was also the youngest competitor in the paratriathlon field at 18 years old during Rio 2016, where the sport made its Paralympic debut. A dual-sport athlete, the two-time Paralympian also captured bronze in the women’s 400m T44 at the Rio Games.

Chris Hammer just missed the podium with a fourth-place finish in the men’s paratriathlon PTS5 at 59:28, clocking in just sixth-tenths of a second behind Canada’s Stefan Daniel (59.22) who grabbed bronze.