Scaroni nabs first Paralympic marathon medal as Paris 2024 comes to a close

PARIS, FRANCE – Team USA’s Susannah Scaroni (Tekoa, Wash.) led the way with her fourth medal of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games as six American athletes wrapped their competitions with the marathon along a course that was both daunting and iconic.

Team USA track and field athletes finish the Paris Paralympics with 38 total medals, including 10 gold.

Scaroni’s bronze medal in the women’s marathon T54 came after a battle with Australian Madison de Rozario and China’s Zhaoqian Zhou for a majority of the 26.2-mile race, which ran through famous Paris locations such as the Champs-Élysées, Arc de Triomphe and Place de la Concorde before finishing at the Esplanade des Invalides. Scaroni and de Rozario were able to pull away from Zhou in the final few miles, with de Rozario taking silver and Scaroni earning her first Paralympic marathon medal.

Scaroni clocked a time of 1:46.29.

“There was a moment in the race where Madison and I were working so hard and going back and forth and honestly, I didn’t care what color the medal was, but I was hoping she and I could get silver and bronze. That’s what happened and I’m so happy for her.”

The now six-time Paralympic medalist discussed the course and winning her first Paralympic medal in the marathon.

“It was a very tough course. There were some roundabouts, which always make it technical, then the cobblestone at the end is rattling in everyone’s memory, I think. It was really fun to have the crowds on the roads.”

For Scaroni, seeing the progression of the women’s distance wheelchair racing field since she debuted in London in 2012 has been gratifying.

“There were women on this course today when I was in my first marathon back in London, and then there are women here today where this is their first course,” she said. “So to see the whole spectrum is very special. I get to be one of the elders but take it in and be happy that there’s a new wave of strong women coming up.”

A two-time medalist in Paris, Daniel Romanchuk (Mount Airy, Md.) was Team USA’s top men’s finisher, taking fourth in the men’s T54 race with a time of 1:32.23. Romanchuk won the second Paralympic title of his career in Paris in the 5000-meter T54 race on the track and also took bronze in the 400-meter.

Seven-time Paralympian Aaron Pike (Park Rapids, Minn.) followed Romanchuk with a seventh-place finish in 1:36.23.

“It was a really technical course with lots of tight turns. It’s been a long time since I raced a course without a course preview, only some photos. There were two times I almost flipped over just because I didn’t know what to expect. Overall though, there were a lot of crowds lining the course, so that was really fun. As rough as it was going over the cobblestones leading up to the Arc de Triomphe, it was one of the coolest views I’ve ever seen. It was how I imagined it before coming here.

For Pike, his seventh Games has been an energizing one, particularly after crowds were restricted in Tokyo.

“I think because of Tokyo and everything being so isolated, that was what made Paris really special,” he said. “You get to have that energy, you get to have family come out, and that really makes you appreciate it that much more.”

Matching Pike’s seventh-place finish on the women’s side was 22-time Paralympic medalist Tatyana McFadden (Baltimore, Md.), who won her 21st and 22nd Paralympic medals in Paris and became the most decorated U.S. Paralympic track and field athlete in history.

The seven-time Paralympian McFadden, who won a silver and a bronze in Paris, has her eyes set on continuing her legendary career in Los Angeles in 2028.

“It was a good year and great to set us up for LA 2028,” McFadden said earlier in the week. “I am just so happy to make history as the athlete with the most Paralympic medals for the USA in Para track and field. But the job’s not finished for me yet. I have my eyes set on LA.”

Two-time Paralympic medalist Brian Siemann (Champaign, Illinois) and two-time Paralympian Jenna Fesemyer (Ravenna, Ohio) rounded out Team USA’s results in 11th and 13th place in the men’s and women’s races, respectively. Siemann, who in his fourth Paralympic Games won his first two medals in Paris, finished in 1:51.56 while Fesemyer clocked a time of 2:05.42.

For Fesemyer, competing in her second Games in front of friends and family has made for a special experience.

“I think back to my experience in Tokyo, and while it was special because it was my first Games, Paris is just extra special because of so many reasons,” she said. “One of them is being able to celebrate another Games with all of my great teammates from the University of Illinois, and another is that my family is able to come. To finish with the marathon in Paris, over all of the cobblestones, I feel like that’s a great way to end this.”

Team USA Medals – Sept. 8, 2024

BRONZE
Susannah Scaroni – women’s marathon T54

Other Team USA Results
Daniel Romanchuk – 4th, men’s marathon T54
Tatyana McFadden – 7th, women’s marathon T54
Aaron Pike – 7th, men’s marathon T54
Brian Siemann – 11th, men’s marathon T54
Jenna Fesemyer – 13th, women’s marathon T54.

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