Just two short months ago, 18-year-old Washingtonian Elouan Gardon had never raced a track cycling event before and he wasn’t part of the Team USA paracycling team either. Yet today, Gardon can call himself a Paralympic medalist, having won bronze in the men’s 4,000-meter individual pursuit C5 event at the Paris Paralympics over the weekend. In doing so, he gave Team USA Paracycling its first medal of the 2024 Paralympics.
Gardon competes in the C5 paracycling category; C1-C5 categories are defined as being for athletes who may have one or more disabilities such as cerebral palsy, competing with a prosthesis or limited movement of the upper or lower limbs.
Fast forward to the Paris Paralympics and his speedy learning ability translated to securing a bronze medal for Gardon after he narrowly missed out on the gold medal race in the men’s 4,000-meter individual pursuit C5.