Kendall Gretsch became just the fifth American – and third U.S. woman – to claim gold medals at both the summer and winter Paralympic Games when she won the women’s PTWC race in thrilling fashion Sunday morning in Tokyo.
The 29-year-old Paralympic triathlete beat reigning world champion Lauren Parker at the line, in a time of 1:06:25 to the Australian’s 1:06:26, at her first Summer Paralympics.
Gretsch was sixth after the swim, 3 minutes and 29 seconds back from Parker, but quickly moved up to second on the bike and slowly made up ground the remainder of the race.