★ The Sports Examiner is delighted to present this important contribution from our patron, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, with a focus on American Paralympic stars. Opinions expressed are those of the USOPC. ★
For the first time, USA Track & Field hosted a combined outdoor national championship with able-bodied and Para athletes.
By Steve Drumwright
Red Line Editorial on behalf of Team USA
Annie Carey is no stranger to big stages.
As a 19-year-old last summer, the native of Boise, Idaho, took part in her first Paralympic Games, posting top-six finishes in both the 200 m and long jump in the T64 classification in Paris.
Earlier this month she was at it again.
With Para athletes competing alongside able-bodied athletes for the first time at the USATF Outdoor National Championships in Eugene, Oregon, Carey, now 20, stole the show by breaking her own T44 world record in the long jump. She leaped to a distance of 5.19 m (17-0 1/2) on Saturday, 2 August, the third and final day of Para competition at historic Hayward Field.
Her performance highlighted a memorable weekend as many of the sport’s biggest names competed for both national championships and spots in next month’s Para Athletics World Championships in New Delhi.
“I think it’s finally nice that Para is getting that extra recognition,” said Carey, who was one of 40 athletes named to the Worlds team on 3 August. “Because in the past at Para meets, there’s not that many people there and it’s not as loud an environment. It’s always fun to race when it’s loud. It was also definitely cool to see all those higher-up athletes. We’re all at the same meet. It’s like, ‘What?’ That’s cool.”
Among the others who made the team were Ezra Frech and Jaydin Blackwell, each of whom won a pair of gold medals at the Paris Games.
Only Carey left Eugene with a world record, though.
“I broke the world record on my second attempt, which honestly I was pretty surprised by,” she said.
Breaking long jump records has become something of a habit for Carey. She set the previous world record last July during the U.S. Paralympic Team Trials in Miramar, Florida. Less than two months later, she set a Paralympic record with a leap of 4.96 m. However, she was competing with athletes in the T62 and T64 classes and finished sixth in the event.
Carey, who was born with a club foot, competes in the T44 classification for athletes with movement affected in one lower leg.
At nationals, she also ran in two 100 m races and two 200 m races, with all four events combining multiple classes together. In each of those events, she was the top T44 performer.
While Carey surprised herself with the world-record jump, her times on the track were more in line with what she was expecting after her sophomore year at Mount St. Mary’s, a smaller NCAA Division I school in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
“My times were very consistent from what I’ve been running during my college season until now,” she said. “Obviously I want to run a little bit faster. I think anyone would want to run faster when they see their times.”
Carey, who was born in Datong, China, came to the U.S. at 21 months old when she was adopted by Sarah and Geoff Carey. She spent this summer back in Boise, which has set up a difficult training environment without a lot of other elite athletes or coaches around to consistently offer feedback.
“I’ve been training alone all summer, so it’s really hard to get into that long-term mentality when you’re alone,” Carey said. “You don’t have anyone to watch you on your runways. You’re kind of doing all of your jumping drills alone. So it’s like, ‘Am I doing it right? Am I not?’ Going into [nationals], I was as prepared as I could be. … I haven’t jumped that far in my life yet, so it was really shocking to see that distance.”
Her time at Mount St. Mary’s – where she’s studying sports management – has helped her focus more on her techniques.
“During my whole training, I was just really trying to be on the board,” she said. “It’s very common for me to not be on the board when I’m jumping. So I just wanted to go into this meet at least getting a few good jumps on the board. I’ve been working on it all summer.”
Competing alongside able-bodied athletes in Eugene, Carey said she didn’t have too many interactions with non-Para competitors during nationals. But recently, Tara Davis-Woodhall, the 2024 Olympic gold medalist in the long jump who is married to Paralympic gold medalist Hunter Woodhall, reached out via Instagram.
“She was commenting [on a post], and I was like, ‘Oh, my god, you should definitely coach me,’” Carey said. “That was really cool.”
Carey, who also has been into swimming, triathlons, tennis and spike ball, appreciates the historical significance of the mixed meet.
“I realized that this meet was more than just making a Worlds team, more than just getting good times,” Carey said. “But it was also a change in history, the first time ever we are seen as one whole community, rather than separated. And that’s just something that us Para athletes I think will always remember, being accounted for and just being able to share our stories with everyone, spreading awareness. It’s come a long way.”
Steve Drumwright is a journalist based in Murrieta, California. He is a freelance contributor to the USPOC on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
For more, please visit the USOPC Paralympic Educational Hub.
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