(Sports news) The 2024 U.S. Paralympic Team Trials – Swimming will take place June 27-29, 2024, in Minneapolis, Minnesota while the 2024 U.S. Paralympics Team Trials – Track and Field will be held July 18-21, 2024, in Chula Vista, California. Both events will bring together nearly 200 athletes all competing for a coveted spot on the U.S. Paralympic Team ahead of the Paralympic Games Paris 2024.
For the second consecutive time, the 2024 team trials for Para swimming will be held at the University of Minnesota’s Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center. The venue is known for hosting numerous national and international competitions, including 28 Big Ten and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships as well as the U.S. Paralympic Team Trials – Swimming ahead of the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020. Completed in 1990, the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center seats 1,350 spectators and up to 1,200 competitors and features an 8-lane 50-meter competition pool with a separate diving well.
“Making the U.S. Paralympic team for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games was a dream come true,” said Paralympian and University of Minnesota swimmer Summer Schmit. “I am excited to once again compete for a spot to represent Team USA during the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. To do so in front of family and friends in my home state of Minnesota is truly an honor.”
For the first time, the Chula Vista Elite Training Center will host the U.S. Paralympic Team Trials – Track and Field. Opened in 1995, the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center is a 155-acre complex that contains sports venues and support facilities for over a dozen Olympic and Paralympic sports including many resident athletes on the current Paralympic track and field national team. The venue recently hosted to the 2023 U.S. Paralympics Track & Field National Championships.
“I am ready to push and challenge myself during the upcoming trials in Chula Vista,” said Lex Gillette, five-time Paralympic silver medalist and four-time world champion in long jump. “Training at the Chula Vista Center for the past 15 years has allowed me to be in a good position to compete. It is my goal to compete at my sixth Paralympic Games next year, and I couldn’t be happier that the trials for the 2024 Paralympic Games are being held here.”
“The Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center has a history of Paralympians and hopefuls training and living on the campus since 1995,” said George Bauernfeind, chief sales and marketing officer. “We are honored to host the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Track & Field Trials.”
For marathon qualification, wheelchair racers will head to New York on November 5 as the TCS New York City Marathon will serve as the U.S. Paralympics Track & Field Marathon Selection Event for the Paris 2024 Games.
The long-awaited trials are an exciting opportunity to watch top Para athletes from across the United States compete for a chance to represent Team USA at the Paris Games next summer. The Paralympic Games will be held in Paris, France from Aug. 28 – Sept. 8, 2024.
