Following Her Role Model, Hannah Nelson Is Primed For Her World Championships Debut

Jessica Long has inspired countless people and helped change their views on disability with her story of perseverance and nearly unmatched success as a Para swimmer.

Hannah Nelson is one of them.

“I remember watching her on TV during the Paralympics in Rio and I didn’t even realize that she didn’t have legs until she was done, and I was just like, man, she is so great,” said Nelson, 20, from Yankton, South Dakota. “Then, in the fall of 2017, I went to a swim clinic and she was there. I got to talk to her and she told me, ‘You totally need to come to a Para meet and meet other swimmers like me. It would be a wonderful opportunity.’”

Nelson, who lost her left leg below the knee to cancer when she was just 11 years old, took Long’s advice to heart. Now, she’ll be making her international debut swimming the 400-meter freestyle S10 race at the Para Swimming World Championships starting later this month in Manchester, England.

“And now I’m teammates with Jessica Long,” she said.

Nelson started dancing before she started school, and took up swimming at around 9 years old after watching the kids on her local swim team while she took lessons in another part of the pool. She’s not even sure what it was about them that sparked her interest, just that she loved being in the water and told her mother that she was going to join the team.

Then at 11, she started experiencing pain in her shins. At first they thought it was shin splints, but it turned out to be much more serious. Diagnosed with osteosarcoma, she underwent nine months of chemotherapy before eventually having the lower part of her leg amputated.

Her thoughts during treatment and recovery weren’t so much about resuming dance and swimming because she was so focused on getting through the challenges at hand. But in the summer of 2017, she went to see her friends compete in a home meet and afterwards they convinced her to get in the water.

“I remember feeling like, you know what? Obviously there’s an imbalance because I only have one foot, but I can totally still swim,” she said. “It was the encouragement and support from my teammates and friends that got me back.”

Not long after, Nelson met Long and her first Para meet came at the California Classic in 2018, where she met other future teammates including Jamal Hill, Morgan Stickney and Noah Jaffe. Two years later, Nelson was breaking American Paralympic records for her age group and classification while swimming with able-bodied teammates with the Yankton Swim Team.

Learning to swim without part of her left leg, she said, wasn’t that difficult.

“It was always a running joke that even when I did have two legs I didn’t kick very much,” she said. “Maybe I just never learned how to swim correctly, or I just didn’t listen, so that was the running joke. But it’s not super different. It’s just more of a balance thing.” 

Going into the world series stop in Minneapolis in April, which would be used to help determine the world championship roster, Nelson knew that if she swam her best time in the 400 she’d have a good shot at making it. She got the time she needed in prelims.

“Of course you still don’t want to get your hopes up because you don’t know for sure,” she said. “They weren’t announcing the team until the next week so I just had to wait. And when they did it was a big relief. I did it. I was so excited. Most people dream of going (to the Paralympics) in Paris and yes, I do dream that and I do want to go to Paris, but I also wanted to go to worlds.”

At a recent training camp, Nelson got the chance to mention their first meeting to Long. Long said she remembered her, and Nelson told her she was the reason why she got into Para racing. Long will be competing at her eighth world championships this summer, looking to add to her 52 medals (including 35 golds). Nelson will race on Aug. 2, and is looking forward to the entire experience of competing on such a big stage.

“It’s going to be such a great opportunity to get to know the team and get to travel with them,” she said. “I’ve never left the country, so even for that I’m really excited. It’s going to be wonderful. I’m going for one race, and then I get to watch everyone else and cheer for them. I’m just grateful for everything that’s coming.”

Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic and Paralympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to USParaSwimming.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.