Leo Merle

Started: He took up athletics in the seventh grade of school. He began competing in Para athletics in 2019. (news.ucsc.edu, 27 Nov 2023; news.dent.umich.edu, 14 Aug 2023) Reason: His parents encouraged him to practise sports at an early age. "I didn't know about the broad spectrum of Para athletics until my junior year [of college] when I started doing the research and signing up for nationals and whatnot. I didn't have any special accommodations and I didn't really think anything of it. As I was letting them know what I was running for the 15k and the 5k, they kind of just stopped and were like, 'Okay, there's some people you should start talking to to get more information about [Para] athletics'." (news.dent.umich.edu, 14 Aug 2023; michigandaily.com, 16 Mar 2021) Ambition: To compete at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, and to run the 1500m in under four minutes. (news.dent.umich.edu, 14 Aug 2023) Additional Info: FURTHER EDUCATION He majored in molecular, cellular and developmental biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He spent six months of his junior year in a study-abroad programme at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. In 2020 he began studying dentistry at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America. (news.dent.umich.edu, 14 Aug 2023; umadaptivesports.com, 01 Jan 2023; LinkedIn profile, 01 May 2022; Instagram profile, 06 Oct 2020; Facebook profile, 01 Jul 2019, 18 Mar 2019)