Good as gold

WashU grad Kendall Gretsch is on her way to becoming a Paralympic legend

Leslie Gibson McCarthy 
On Aug. 29, 2021, WashU alum Kendall Gretsch defeats Australian Lauren Parker at the finish line of the women's PTWC Triathlon at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games (Photo: Getty Images)
On Aug. 29, 2021, WashU alum Kendall Gretsch defeats Australian Lauren Parker at the finish line of the women's PTWC Triathlon at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games (Photo: Getty Images)

It’s among the most dramatic of international sports moments you probably never saw, performed by a Washington University in St. Louis alumna who never wore a red and green uniform.

On Aug. 28, 2021, Kendall Gretsch, who earned her degree in biomedical engineering in 2014 from the McKelvey School of Engineering, was competing in the women’s paratriathlon at the 2021 Paralympic Games in Tokyo when she overcame Australia’s Lauren Parker in the last leg of the race at the finish line – at the last second.

Because once you see how determined she was to get to the finish line, you’re going to want to learn more about this remarkable athlete.   

Once you learn how the achievement put her in rare Paralympic air, you’re going to wonder what was going through her mind when she was standing on the podium listening to the National Anthem.

And once you’ve learned all that, you’re probably going to want to mark your calendar for a few weeks from now, when Gretsch competes again in paralympic competition at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing. Yes, the summer paralympian who competes in triathlon is also a winter paralympian who competes in cross country skiing and biathlon. And this time, she’ll have just six months between competitions.

Read the full story here.

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