MD Paralympic Athletes: Check Out Who's Competing This Month

MARYLAND — If you’re sad to see the Olympics end, don’t fret. The Paralympics are only around the corner and Maryland athletes will be competing for Team USA.

Our state will send athletes in swimming, track and field and wheelchair basketball

The following athletes have a Maryland town or city listed as their hometown and are competing for Team USA. There may be other Maryland Paralympic athletes competing for other countries.

Swimming

Jessica Long

Baltimore, MD
Homeschooled

This four-time paralympian is returning for her fifth competition this year, swimming the 50 meter freestyle, 100 meter freestyle, 400 meter freestyle, 100 meter backstroke, 100 meter breaststroke, 100 meter fly and the 200 meter individual medley. Long currently holds 13 gold medals, six silver medals and four bronze medals from her Paralympic appearances in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. The champion swimmer had fibular hemimelia as a child, resulting in the amputation of both of Long’s legs below her knees, Team USA said. Long learned to swim in her grandparents’ pool, where she pretended to be a mermaid, according to her athlete biography.

Lawrence Sapp

Waldorf, MD
First Baptist of LaPlata Educational Ministry in La Plata, MD

Sapp will make his Paralympic debut in the 100 meter butterfly, 200 meter individual medley and the 200 meter freestyle. Sapp graduated from high school in 2020 and is in the University of Cincinnati Class of 2024. Sapp started swimming when he was five years old and joined Team USA in 2013, his athlete biography says. He broke five school records during his freshman year in high school while competing on the varsity team. Team USA said Sapp was diagnosed with a developmental delay when he was 2, and was diagnosed with autism and an intellectual impairment by the time he was 18. Team USA says Sapp is "extremely athletic, hard-working and honest."

Zachary Shattuck

Mt. Airy, MD
South Carroll High School

This 2018 graduate of Frostburg State University only started swimming when he was in college —now he’ll represent Team USA at the Paralympics. Shattuck will be competing this year in the S6, SB6, SM6 classifications, Team USA said. The 25-year-old told the Paralympics he is looking forward to “giving the world hope that we can get through anything and move forward post-Covid.”

Track and Field

Tatyana McFadden

Clarksville, MD
Atholton High School in Columbia, MD

This will be McFadden’s sixth Paralympics — the 32-year-old has won seven gold medals, seven silver medals and three bronze medals during her previous Paralympics appearances. This year she’ll compete in the 100-meter, 400-meter, 800-meter, 1,500-meter, 5,000-meter, 4x400-meter relay and the marathon. McFadden was born with spina bifida and walked on her hands until she was adopted from an orphanage in Russia, Team USA said. Her coach has nicknamed her “the beast,” because she can climb hills better than everyone else, and once pulled a BMW while in her wheelchair.

Daniel Romanchuk

Mt. Airy, MD
Homeschooled

Romanchuk will compete in the 800-meter, 1,500-meter and 5,000-meter for his second Paralympic appearance. He started racing at age 5, began competing in marathons at 14 and has trained with the University of Illinois Wheelchair Racing Team, according to the Paralympics Committee.

Wheelchair Basketball

Trevon Jenifer

Huntingtown, MD
Huntingtown High School

Jenifer will return to the Paralympics after winning a gold medal in 2016 in Rio and a bronze medal in 2012 in London. He started playing wheelchair basketball in 1992 as part of the Air Capital team in Washington, D.C. Jenifer is the author of “From the Ground Up,” an autobiography about being born without legs and how his family's support helped him succeed.

The athletes here listed Maryland as their hometown for Team USA. If you think there is a Maryland hometown athlete who is competing for Team USA not on this list, please email colleen.martin@patch.com.