Susannah Scaroni

Started: She began wheelchair racing in 2002 in Spokane, WA, United States of America. (ahs.illinois.edu, 02 Oct 2019; denverpost.com, 28 May 2013) Reason: Her mother encouraged her to attend a sports day for people with an impairment. "I was fortunate enough to be close to Spokane, Washington, just about an hour away. There's an adaptive sports programme for youth there. So I learned about it through Shriners Hospital and immediately fell in love with it. I started out on the ParaSport Spokane team." (ahs.illinois.edu, 02 Oct 2019; furthermore.equinox.com, 31 Oct 2018) Ambition: To compete at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (theathletic.com, 12 Dec 2023) Additional Info: COMEBACK FROM INJURY She sustained three fractured vertebrae when she was hit by a car while training in September 2021. The accident gave her a different outlook on life and a greater motivation to compete. "It truly gave me new perspective. I loved pushing hard and going as fast as I could, but now I am so happy to be alive. Everything is a celebration and an opportunity and that has translated into my career. After the accident, I told myself, 'If there is a race, wherever it is, I want to do it'." After she recovered from her injuries, her new racing chair put strain on her back and meant she had to adopt a new position while racing. "I already am that person who really doesn't like change, so it's kind of a blessing in disguise that my chair was totalled otherwise I probably would not have had the willingness to try the new position." (teamusa.com, 13 Dec 2022; paralympic.org, 10 Oct 2022; nytimes.com, 09 Oct 2022) FURTHER EDUCATION In 2022 she completed her postgraduate degree at the Division of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the United States of America. (teamusa.com, 10 Jul 2023; ahs.illinois.edu, 02 Oct 2019; Division of Nutritional Sciences at University of Illinois Facebook page, 03 Jul 2018) OCCUPATION She has worked as a dietitian for the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee. "When you can apply and adapt [nutrition] to Para athletes, I think having been one will add a really nice element to the advice I can give in the future. So I want to just try it out and see what it's like being a sports dietitian. I haven't completely thrown out the possibility of continuing research. There's a lot of things that need to be studied in Para athletes still. I've really enjoyed sports physiology as well as nutrition science in my grad school programme so far [2019]. So I think I could see that being a possible future thing to do as well." (nyrr.org, 14 Sep 2023; ahs.illinois.edu, 02 Oct 2019; nyrr.org, 01 Jun 2019)