Denver Welcomed Hundreds of Adaptive Youth Athletes at Move United Junior Nationals Presented by The Hartford July 16-22, 2022
Over 300 young athletes with a physical disability, visual and/or intellectual impairment had the opportunity to compete at Move United Junior Nationals presented by The Hartford, the largest and longest-standing national sport championship of its kind.
The event included competition in seven sports, clinics, educational and social opportunities, along with their coaches and families. The sports featured included archery, para powerlifting, paratriathlon, shooting, swimming, track and field, and wheelchair tennis.
See the video recap HERE.
The Hartford, along with World Champion Wheelchair Basketball Player, Matt Scott, surprised athletes Jairo Gonzales, Aarya Krishnan, and Cedric Dunn with custom-fit adaptive sports equipment during the opening ceremonies. Gonzales, 9, received a new track racing chair. Krishnan, 12, received an archery bow and arrows. Dunn, 13, received a throwing chair to compete in field events. Custom equipment can be a game changer for athletes and often costs 7-8 times more than able-bodied equipment.
Through the support of Paralympic Gold Medalist Daniel Romanchuk, 38 new or independent athletes received a scholarship to compete at Move United Junior Nationals presented by The Hartford. He was also on hand to provide track training to other wheelchair racers for part of the week during the event.
A number of personal records and Junior Nationals records were broken during the week. However, on Friday morning, Littleton resident Matthew Paintin, 21, broke the world record for the 1500m race in the T35 class, with a time of 4:52.34. Paintin, who has Cerebral Palsy, just missed making Team USA for the Paralympic Games in Tokyo and is training to make the team for the 2024 Paralympics in Paris. The previous world record that he broke was set in July 1994 in Berlin.
In addition, The Hartford and World Champion Para Snowboarder, Keith Gabel, announced Sam Winter as the recipient of The Hartford’s Human Achievement Award. The award is given to an athlete, nominated by their peers, who serves as an advocate for the adaptive sports movement and inspires others as a role model.
“We congratulate all the athletes who competed this week on champion level performances,” said Glenn Merry, Executive Director of Move United. “Each athlete pushed their potential to qualify for these games, and their accomplishment demonstrates what’s possible for adaptive athletes to achieve. With almost 80% of Team USA athletes finding their sport through Move United programs, we expect to see these competitors as the next generation in international competition, the Paralympics in Paris 2024 and beyond.”
Representatives from a number of National Governing Bodies attended the games to help with classification, clinics, and other activities where the athletes could develop new skills and improve their athletic performance.
Move United Junior Nationals presented by The Hartford is also sponsored by the Daniels Fund, Challenged Athletes Foundation, Children’s Hospital Colorado, and Biogen. For more information about Move United Junior Nationals and the complete event results, visit moveunitedjuniornationals.org.
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