Get Ready to Watch Track and Field Alumna in Winning Form at 2024 Paralympic Games
Three-time Paralympic Games bronze medalist and Chico State Track and Field alumna Kym Crosby has good advice for those with disabilities competing in sports: “Things will get hard, and that’s okay—you are strong enough to handle whatever comes your way.”
Crosby (Kinesiology, ’18) knows this firsthand.
After winning two bronze medals at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games—she finished third in the 100- and 400-meter sprints—she was injured and required surgery. Shortly after, during her quest to also qualify for the Paralympics in cycling, she suffered a severely dislocated shoulder in a training accident. These injuries kept her off the track for almost two years.
Since recovering, she has dug deep, been resilient in training, and found winning form at the right moment. This summer, she won the 100 meters at the U.S. Paralympic Team Trials to earn a spot in her third Paralympic Games.
Crosby, who competes in the T13 class for runners with visual impairment, competed on Chico State’s track and field team in 2012 and 2014, redshirting the season in between. Two years after competing for the Wildcats, she suited up for the USA at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. There, she finished third in the 100 meters to earn her first of many Paralympic medals.
All these experiences, good and challenging, have given her more perspective at this important moment.
“I never take any experience for granted,” Crosby said. “I’m super grateful every time I make a team. Now that I’m back in competitive form again for the first time in a while, I’m having feelings I haven’t felt since running high school track. It’s making me appreciate my body and the sport a whole lot more.”
Crosby’s goal for 2024 in Paris: add some silver and/or gold to her growing medal collection.
How to Watch
NBC is scheduled to stream 1,500 hours of live Paralympics coverage on Peacock. It will also feature at least nine hours of programming each day on the USA Network. Action is also scheduled to be streamed via NBCParalympics.com, NBC.com, the NBC Sports App, and the NBC App.
All of Crosby’s races will take place in Stade de France and her race schedule is as follows (all times Pacific Daylight Time):
Women’s 100 meters
T13 Round 1: Sept. 3 at 2 a.m.
T13 Final: Sept. 3 at 11:12 a.m.
Women’s 400 meters
Round 1: Sept. 5 at 12:31 p.m.
Final: Sept. 7 at 1:21 a.m.
About the T13 designation
In the Paralympics, athletes are assessed and placed into competition categories according to how much their impairment affects sports performance. Crosby was born with albinism and has no pigment in her hair, skin, or eyes, and is legally blind with 20/400 vision. She competes in the T13 classification, which includes track athletes with the least severe vision impairment eligible to compete in the Paralympics. In Crosby’s case, she can make out the white lines contrasted against dark-colored tracks, allowing her to run within them if she keeps her focus directly in front of her.
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