Team USA wins 4 medals on the final night of Paris 2024
PARIS – Paris 2024 swimming competition came to a roaring end on Saturday at the Paris La Defense Arena as Team USA won four medals on the night to bring the 2024 Paralympic Games total to 30.
Six-time Paralympian Jessica Long (Baltimore, Md.) added yet another gold to her ever-rising medal total, winning the women’s 100-meter butterfly S8. Two more Paralympic veterans closed their 2024 Paralympic Games with silver medal wins as Elizabeth Marks (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Mallory Weggemann (Eagan, Minn.) scored hardware in the women’s 100-meter backstroke S6 and women’s 50-meter butterfly S7 respectively.
The mixed 4 x 100-meter freestyle relay – 34 points squad of Christie Raleigh Crossley (Toms River, N.J.), Matthew Torres (Ansonia, Conn.), Natalie Sims (Edina, Minn.) and Noah Jaffe (Carlsbad, Calif.) added one more medal for Team USA, taking bronze in the last swimming event of Paris 2024.
Long swam in the final race of her sixth Paralympic Games on Saturday night, the women’s 100-meter butterfly, and she couldn’t have scripted a more dramatic ending. Long took the lead in the final 10 meters of the race to win her 18th Paralympic gold medal and bring her all-time Paralympic medal total to 31. Just after touching the wall, Long turned to look at the scoreboard and was shocked to see she had won gold.
“It was shocking. I was just so tired. Alice (Tai) and I were talking about that in the call room, how tired we were. I had no idea where anyone was so when I touched the wall and you see me quickly turn. I was like I won? I had no idea. It was amazing,” Long said.
Long closed out Paris 2024 with a gold medal but it didn’t start off as well for her. “I started with sixth place and a fourth place, and I hope that this is a testament to how I reset. But it's also a testament to my coach, Patrick, because he started working on fly with me just in June. So that truly was just a shock. I told him before I went to the call room that I just felt content and that I was just happy with whatever happened,” she said.
Long truly appreciated the amazing support that the crowds at Paris La Defense Arena have provided daily for the swimmers. “Here in Paris, it's been the most incredible crowd I've ever swam in front of,” she added.
Marks opened the Paralympic Games with a silver medal on the first day of competition and she completed her Paris 2024 run in the exact same way. The three-time Paralympian earned five silver medals in Paris and she couldn’t have been happier following Saturday’s final. China’s Yuyan Jiang broke Marks’ world record to win gold. Marks, always one to celebrate others appreciated being in the pool with Jiang when she swam the new world record time.
“I've told everybody, I've always just wanted to be in the pool when someone breaks my world record, and she did. And she let me know when it happened and gave me a big hug. It was a very special moment,” Marks said.
Marks competed from the first day to the last day of Paris 2024 and it was definitely a grind for her, but she was happy to close out the Paralympics in the way she did. “I think it went as well as it could. I am exhausted. It's been a long week. We swam in seven races, so fourteen races total, which has been a lot of fun. It felt like a really special and beautiful way to end my racing this week,” Marks said.
Marks served as a flag bearer for Team USA on Sunday in the Closing Ceremony.
Weggemann competed in her fourth Paralympic Games in Paris, but her first as a mom, which has made Paris 2024 especially special for her. She claimed her seventh overall Paralympic medal on Saturday in the 50-meter butterfly.
“These are my fourth Games. They're my first games as a mom. And having this final race here in Paris is just so meaningful and so special to just sit behind those starting blocks before the race started and take it all in. And to come away with a silver tonight is it's everything. I started these games on top of the Paralympic podium with a gold medal, and this race is a race that I've always loved so to be on the podium tonight again is it's an honor. I get to do that, look into the stands and see my husband and our daughter and my coach and my parents and my sister and our community and do so representing Team USA,” Weggemann said.
Weggemann loved joining her fellow mom Giulia Terzi of Italy on the medal stand on Saturday. “I think it's also important to show that motherhood is a comma and not a period. And I think far too often, athletic careers seem to have this misconception that they come to an end when motherhood enters that phase of your life, and it's just so not true. We had two mamas on that podium tonight,” she said.
The very last swimming event of Paris 2024 featured the mixed 4 x 100-meter freestyle relay – 34 points. The squad of Torres, Jaffe, Sims and Crossley brought home the 30th medal for the U.S. team with a late surge, bringing Paris 2024 to a perfect end.
“Going into the last couple legs we knew where they were and what they had left and what we had left. I think we knew we were in a pretty good position, but it was fun out there racing,” Crossley said. “We knew going in we had a great squad and I think we executed the race pretty well.”
“All of us just wanted to put on our best show for our country and and for all of our supporters, and I'm glad that we were able to execute our game plan and bring home some more hardware,” Torres said.
“It's the last event of the whole entire Games so I think we were all pumped up and ready to go and same with all the other countries. So it was great,” Jaffe added.
“I think this decision was really hard in terms of what combination were we going to do. We did what we came here to do, which was get on that podium,” said Sims.
Earllier in the day, Jaffe returned to the pool the morning after his silver medal win on Thursday to compete in the men’s 100-meter butterfly S8. Jaffe finished sixth in the event final with a time of 1:05.26 before returning for the team relay later in the night.
Four-time Paralympian Evan Austin (Terre Haute, Ind.) competed in his third and final event of Paris 2024, the men’s 50-meter butterfly S7. He placed just two tenths of a second off the podium with a time of 29.89 for a fourth place finish.
Two-time Paralympian Julia Gaffney (Little Rock, Ark.) was back in the pool for the first time in a week on Saturday following a bronze medal in her first race. Gaffney returned for the women’s 50-meter butterfly S7 on the last day of competition and finished sixth with a time of 37.22.
Anastasia Pagonis (Long Island, N.Y.) finished out her second Paralympic Games in the women’s 100-meter butterfly S11 on Saturday night at Paris La Defense Arena. She placed seventh in the event final with a time of 1:09.31.
Taylor Winnett (Hershey, Pa.) swam in four individual events in the last half of Paris 2024 swimming competition, and she completed her final race on Saturday. She finished 11th in the women’s 200-meter individual medley SM10 with a 2:46.42 time, wrapping up her first Paralympic Games.
McKenzie Coan (Clarkesville, Ga.) finished out her fourth Paralympic Games on Friday morning, finishing thirteenth in the women’s 50-meter butterfly S7 with a 40:03 time. She earned her seventh Paralympic medal in Paris, winning silver in the 400-meter Freestyle S7.
Evan Wilkerson (Rolesville, N.C.) swam in his final of four events of Paris 2024 on Saturday and placed 15th in the men’s 100-meter butterfly S12 to conclude his first Paralympic Games.
Team USA Medals:
Jessica Long, gold, women’s 100-meter butterfly S8
Elizabeth Marks, silver, women’s 100-meter backstroke S6
Mallory Weggemann, women’s 50-meter butterfly S7
Matthew Torres, Noah Jaffe, Natalie Sims, Christie Raleigh Crossley, bronze, mixed 4 x 100-meter freestyle relay – 34 points.
Other Team USA Results:
Taylor Winnett, 11th, women’s 200-meter individual medley S10
McKenzie Coan, 13th, women’s 50-meter butterfly S7
Evan Wilkerson, 15th, men’s 100-meter butterfly S12
Evan Austin, 4th, men’s 50-meter butterfly S7
Julia Gaffney, 6th, women’s 50-meter butterfly S7
Anastasia Pagonis, 7th, women’s 100-meter freestyle S11.
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