PARIS - Christie Raleigh Crossley (Toms River, New Jersey) opened the day in spectacular fashion for Team USA, winning Paralympic gold in the women’s 100-meter backstroke S9. Leanne Smith (Salem, Massachusetts) soon added the U.S. squad’s second gold medal of the day with a victory in the women’s 100-meter freestyle S3. It is the first gold for Smith who is competing in her second Games in Paris. Olivia Chambers (Little Rock, Arkansas) scored the third U.S. medal of the night with a silver in the women’s 200-meter individual medley S13.

Crossley not only added a gold medal to her silver from the opening day of Paris 2024 competition, but also set a new Paralympic record with a 1:07.92 time in the first event final of the day for the U.S. at the Paris La Defense Arena. She’s focused on remaining relaxed and enjoying her race, which paid off in gold medal fashion.

“It has not sunk in at all. We went out there and had fun though and that’s always what I want when I swim. That was mission accomplished,” Crossley said. “I feel like I made my kids proud and that’s all I really wanted.”

Her playlist provided an extra spark for her as well in the final moments before her race.

“It just so happened that my favorite walk-out song was the last song that I listened to, it just happened to be in the playlist. It’s Fergie’s ‘Glamorous.’ The last verse of the song talks about her dad telling her that this is life and to overcome and my dad has always said to me, ‘you’ve overcome adversity, you can do it.’ So in that moment, it felt like my dad was there, just reminding me you’ve got this. You can do this. This is what you’re meant for. He’s back home in the States. I wish he was here, but I definitely felt him in that moment. All the years of him telling me I could do it. It was right at that moment,” she said.

Right after she left the medal stand, Crossley saw her three children in the crowd and stopped to embrace them with the gold medal hanging around her neck.

“It feels like a dream. It does not feel real at all. I don’t know when it will fully sink in. I’m living a dream. I just love them,” Crossley said of the medal stand moment and seeing her kids in the stands supporting her. “It was incredible to have so many people from all over the world just celebrating you and the hard work you’ve put in.”

Crossley will be back in the Paris La Defense Arena pool on Wednesday in the women’s 100-meter freestyle S9.

Smith won silver in the women’s 100-meter freestyle S3 in Tokyo and faced significant setbacks over the past two years, but she refused to let that stop her from winning her first Paralympic gold medal on Tuesday.

“It’s indescribable honestly. I’m lost for words right now. Obviously, an emotional win. It has been a rough two years so to be back here. I’ve called it my redemption race from Tokyo where I took silver,” Smith said. “Two years ago, I was being admitted into the ICU with collapsed lungs and that turned into a six-week rehabilitation stay followed by another seven months out of the pool. It was definitely frustrating, there were a lot of ups and downs. Ultimately, we just had one goal in mind which was to make it back here to this stage and to make it back and be able to be a gold medalist. I couldn’t be more happy.”

Throughout her most difficult days, Smith never gave up on her road back to the Paralympic Games and ultimately the top of the medal stand. “Something I say often to others is do not let your circumstances define you and I often find myself saying that you need to also listen to the words you say to others because there are certainly moments where every athlete, every person has a setback. I’m just determined to always take the labels that people place on people with disabilities and absolutely crush them or go above and beyond them. It may not always be the same as how it should be done but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be done. That’s what my coach and I have learned over the past couple years is how to adapt my stroke to my new body and how to make it as efficient as we can and that’s what we’ve been working for and it paid off,” she said.

The gold is her second medal of Paris 2024 following a silver in the 4x50-meter freestyle relay-20 points on Friday. Smith will swim in Wednesday’s Paralympic action, competing in the women’s 50-meter breaststroke SB3.

Chambers earned a gold medal earlier in her first Paralympic Games and she added a second piece of hardware in her fourth event of Paris 2024 on Tuesday, the women’s 200-meter individual medley SM13.

“It was a fun race. I love the 200 IM and I just really fought hard. It’s definitely a hard one, especially because you change strokes every 50 so every 50 is a sprint and that’s a long way to sprint but you just have to take each stroke one by one and really focus on what you need to do for that one to get through it,” she said.

It’s been a busy schedule for the two-time medalist during Paris 2024, but she has managed her time well to get the best out of each performance. “It’s not easy but I feel like I’ve trained for this. We do doubles at least three times a week and swim six days a week so it’s something I’m used to. Usually meets are maybe four days long so this is definitely on the longer end, but you have built in breaks in there so if you utilize your time wisely, it can go well,” she said.

Chambers will swim in her final individual event, the women’s 100-meter breaststroke SB13 on Thursday.

After competing for the first time in Paris in Monday’s relay, three-time Paralympian Hannah Aspden (Raleigh, North Carolina) swam in her first individual event of Paris 2024 in the women’s 100-meter backstroke S9. She finished sixth with a time of 1:12.71. Aspden’s next individual event will be the women’s 100-meter freestyle S9 on Wednesday.

Three-time Paralympian Lizzi Smith (Muncie, Indiana) made her Paris debut in Tuesday’s women’s 100-meter backstroke S9 action. Smith finished eighth in the event final, swimming the race in 1:13.37. She will be back in the pool on Friday for the women’s 100-meter butterfly S9.

Four-time Paralympian Elizabeth Marks (Colorado Springs, Colorado) had a busy and successful first two days of Paralympic competition, winning a trio of silver medals. She returned to the pool on Tuesday for more, swimming in the women’s 50-meter butterfly S6. Marks placed seventh with a time of 38.79. Her busy competition schedule in Paris continues on Wednesday in the women’s 100-meter freestyle S7.

Colleen Young (St. Louis, Missouri) entered the pool for the first in her fourth Paralympic Games on Tuesday, representing Team USA in the women’s 200-meter individual medley SM 13. Young claimed the seventh spot in the event final with a time of 2:34.95, and she will return for her second individual event on Thursday in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke SB13.

Grace Nuhfer (Greenwood, Indiana) earned another opportunity to swim alongside her teammates in the women’s 200-meter individual medley SB13, which was her final individual event of Paris 2024. Nuhfer finished sixth with a time of 2:32.95 to close out an impressive first Paralympic Games.

Yaseen El-Demerdash (Overland Park, Kansas) placed 12th in the men’s 100-meter butterfly on Tuesday morning with a 1:01.88 time. He will swim in his fourth individual event on Friday in the men’s 100-meter backstroke S10.

David Abrahams (Havertown, Pennsylvania) entered the Paris 2024 pool for the first time on Tuesday for the men’s 200-meter individual medley. The two-time Paralympian finished in sixth place in his debut race with a time of 2:16.95. Abrahams’ next individual event will be the men’s 100-meter breaststroke SB13 on Thursday.

Taylor Winnett (Hershey, Pennsylvania) swam in her first race of Paris 2024 on Tuesday and she placed eighth in the women’s 100-meter butterfly S10. She will be a familiar face in the pool over the second half of the Paralympics, returning in Wednesday’s competition in the women’s 400-meter freestyle S10.

Two-time Paralympian Zach Shattuck (Mt. Airy, Maryland) competed in his fourth event of Paris 2024, the men’s 50-meter butterfly S6 on Tuesday morning and just missed advancing to the final, placing ninth.

Team USA Medals:

Christie Raleigh Crossley, gold, women’s 100-meter backstroke S9

Leanne Smith, gold, women’s 100-meter freestyle S3

Olivia Chambers, silver, women’s 200-meter individual medley SM13

Other Team USA Results:

Zach Shattuck, 9th, men’s 50-meter butterfly S6

Hannah Aspden, 6th, women’s 100-meter backstroke S9

Lizzi Smith, 8th, women’s 100-meter backstroke S9

Elizabeth Marks, 7th, women’s 50-meter butterfly S6

Yaseen El-Demerdash, 12th, men’s 100-meter butterfly

David Abrahams, 6th, men’s 200-meter individual medley

Grace Nuhfer, 6th, women’s 200-meter individual medley SM13

Colleen Young, 7th, women’s 200-meter individual, medley SM13

Taylor Winnett, 8th, women’s 100-meter butterfly S10

Crossley and Smith Take Gold and Chambers Grabs Silver at Paris 2024

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