5 U.S. Athletes who won their first gold medal at the Paris Paralympics ft. Hunter Woodhall, Ezra Frech

The USA athletes displayed brilliant performances at the 2024 Paris Paralympics as they contributed to the nation’s third-place finish in the overall medal tally, only behind China and Great Britain. They concluded their campaign on a high, bagging 105 medals, including 36 gold, 42 silver, and 27 bronze medals.

With this, let’s look at the USA athletes who won their first gold medal at the Summer Paralympics in Paris -

USA Athletes who won their first gold medal at the 2024 Paris Paralympics

#5 Samantha Bosco

Samantha Bosco. (Photo by Antonio Borga/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)

At the 2016 Summer Paralympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Samantha Bosco bagged two bronze medals in the Cycling - Road time trial C5 and Individual pursuit C5 disciplines. However, she sustained an injury, resulting in her missing out on the Tokyo Paralympics.

During the UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships, she clinched four gold medals in the C4 categories in 2022 and 2023. Later, Bosco bagged the top position at the 2024 Paris Paralympics by winning her Paralympic career’s first-ever gold medal in the Road time trial C4 event as she clocked a 21:39.24.

#4 Matt Stutzman

Matt Stutzman trains during a session on July 14, 2020 in Fairfield, Iowa. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Matt Stutzman made headlines when he collected a silver medal in the Archery - men’s individual compound event at the 2012 London Paralympics. Popularly known as ‘Armless Archer’, Stutzman has shown his brilliance over the years.

Stutzman captured his first Olympic gold medal at the Paris Paralympics by defeating China’s Ai Xinliang in a thrilling shoot-off. He also grabbed attention for being the mentor of another armless archer from India, Sheetal Devi, who took the bronze medal in the 2024 edition along with veteran archer Rakesh Kumar in the mixed team compound.

#3 Leanne Smith

Leanne Smith . (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Leanne Smith emerged as one of the most successful USA athletes at the 2024 Paris Paralympics as she bagged two gold and two silver medals in Swimming events.

Having previously earned a silver in the 100m freestyle S3 at the Tokyo Paralympics, Smith’s first-ever gold in her Paralympics career came in the women’s 100m freestyle S3 as she recorded a time of 1:28.81. Meanwhile, she won her second gold in Paris at the 50m freestyle S4 with a world record time of 40.03.

#2 Hunter Woodhall

Hunter Woodhall (Photo by Marco Mantovani/Getty Images)

Hunter Woodhall captured his first gold medal at the Summer Paralympics in Paris in the Athletics - men’s 400m T62, clocking a time of 46.36s. This was his fourth medal in the Summer Paralympics, having earned a silver and bronze in 2016 and a bronze in 2020.

Woodhall then played a crucial role in the USA’s bronze medal finish in the mixed 4x100m relay at the Paris Paralympics.

#1 Ezra Frech

Ezra Frech. (Photo by Tom Weller/VOIGT/GettyImages)

Ezra Frech gained more prominence at the 2024 Paris Paralympics after winning two gold medals in the men’s 100m T63 and high jump T63 events.

Renowned for being a motivational speaker and a vocal advocate of disability rights, he achieved his first gold in the 100m T63 with a 12.06s and later went on to win the gold in his signature high jump T63 event with a best effort of 1.94m in his second Paralympic Games.