Inspiring American Paralympian looks to New York City Marathon as her next pursuit
Toward the end of September 2021, Susannah Scaroni, a three-time Paralympian and world record holder in wheelchair racing, was adjusting to her new reality.
A reality that included a four-month stay in a back brace after her racing wheelchair was rear-ended by a vehicle during a morning training session on Sept. 16. Scaroni was just weeks removed from winning gold and bronze medals at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
The accident left her with three fractured vertebrae, including an eighth thoracic vertebra (T8) vertebral burst fracture, burns on her arms and legs and a knee injury. It crushed her racing chair, ended her racing year and added to the inevitable questions about her future in the sport.
Her spine surgeon told her that the bones in her back, which were now curved, would never go back to their normal size, and that it would take six months to get back to 80% — and a full year before she would be able to realistically compete again. She would also have to endure not being on her stomach in the racing chair due to her spine.
While contemplating her next move, along with cautiously taking advice from her physicians, there was only one thing on Scaroni’s mind: train even harder. Get back out on a course and continue to dominate the competition.
Was there a hint of giving up and leaving racing behind?
“Not a chance,” Scaroni said. “I had to start using common sense to see what I could do.”
Though Scaroni, who will be one of an estimated 50,000-plus participants in the New York City Marathon on Sunday, insists she doesn't have a competitive bone in her body, her perseverance, dedication and willingness to rule her sport at all costs despite having to overcome not one, but two devastating injuries makes her a force to be reckoned with in the racing world.
Future forester
Scaroni’s drive to success came by circumstance.
She grew up in Tekoa, a small, rural farming community with a population of 800, located on the Palouse of eastern Washington, just a few miles from the Idaho border. Both her parents were foresters, so that naturally took her into having in an interest in the great outdoors.
Family trips to Priest Lake in northern Idaho to go kayaking and canoeing only strengthened that dream.
“I love being out in the woods and I love trees,” she said. “I think I'm so fascinated by how trees grow and what they do to support each other and also to compete against each other for resources."
Everything changed one afternoon in January 1997, when 5-year old Scaroni and her older brother, Jesse, were passengers in a car with her mother, Barbara, driving. Their car hit a patch of ice and careened into oncoming traffic, striking a truck.
The impact of the crash left her brother with a head injury and her mother suffered a broken ankle.
Scaroni suffered the most serious injuries from the accident, severing her thoracic spinal nerve when she was thrust forward by the impact, paralyzing her below the waist. An energetic kindergartener who was just starting to grasp her calling and enjoying activities such as going to the skating rink was told she would need to use a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
Attempting to follow what other children her age were doing took adjustments, being independent and learning the intricacies of being limited.
“If kids were going to tumble down the hill at recess, I had to get back into my wheelchair by myself. I was the only person who used a wheelchair there. I think because of that, there was no way to segregate me to be with the other kids who had disabilities," Scaroni said. "And it's a nice thing to be creative and being young enough that I was just learning how to do life."
"But also, you're going to be surprised, I'm not that competitive.”
Scaroni's sister, Rose Antonich, who is nine years older, said she saw an immediate change in Susannah after the accident, including her undeniable determination.
“I think the Lord must have just given it to her,” Antonich said. “And to all of us. We all just rolled with it. Our community just came around us and whatever needed to happen, they were going to make it happen. But there were definitely trials the first few years.
“I think since the last accident, just her resiliency to say, 'I’m just going to get back at this.' I know her faith is the anchor she holds on to. Just knowing this life is temporary, these trials are temporary, and that we have a future in heaven.”
“I was a single mom with four young kids, and we couldn't let that ruin our family life,” added Barbara Scaroni, Susannah's mother whose husband died of brain cancer when Susannah was an infant. “So, yes, they pulled together with my oldest daughter and her two brothers and just tried to do what it took to get back to a normal life and to have the fight.
"We are not going to let this destroy our lives. That’s where I put the big emphasis. We have so much to be thankful for. Nobody died in this car wreck.”
Finding racing
Scaroni's interest in sports came after learning about an adaptive sports program for youth and adults in Spokane, an hour’s drive from her hometown. Her wheelchair racing career started at age 10 with involvement in ParaSport Spokane Team, which gives those with physical disabilities an opportunity to compete against others.
Her mother insisted that Scaroni get involved in sports, so starting in fourth grade, she signed up for wheelchair basketball and immediately became obsessed, parlaying that into joining the racing team, and honing her skills throughout high school.
After high school, Scaroni spent two years at Carroll College in Helena, Montana, where she studied chemistry and health science. While there, she got a call from Adam Bleakney, the head coach of the wheelchair track and road racing team at the University of Illinois, who heard about Scaroni from her racing in a local Spokane road race. He had a scholarship available for her to come join the team in 2011.
Scaroni quickly evolved as a racer, finishing second in the 2012 Chicago Marathon and posting times good enough to make the Olympic team. She placed eighth in the marathon at the London Olympics and finished one spot higher four years later during the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Scaroni says her focus and mindset were the reasons she went from not medaling to making the podium in Tokyo, adding that the programs back home such as ParaSport were key to her development — and for the future of the sport.
"I was so lucky. The reason I'm here today is because of that adaptive sports team one hour from my house in Washington, but just having a program in Spokane is not enough," she said. "I think there are not enough resources and there's people with disabilities everywhere."
Fighting back
The first thing Scaroni had to curb after her four-day hospital stay from the September 2021 accident was her taste for working out.
Scaroni usually works out six days a week, taking Sundays off, starting at 5 a.m. She does a session in the morning and weight room training in the afternoon 50 weeks of the year, with a blend of road and track workouts, upwards of 20 hours a week. So it was Scaroni — with some assistance from her mother, who was by her side for a portion of the recovery — who was tasked with keeping herself from overdoing it.
Now Scaroni's trainer, Bleakney — whose athletes have helped build a wheelchair racing powerhouse at Illinois with nearly 60 medals at the Paralympic Games — credits athletes like Scaroni and their desire to win, no matter the obstacles.
“I just have this innate love of exercising,” Scaroni said. “I don't feel happy if I'm just out there cruising along because in a racing chair you could theoretically coast. I don't need others to motivate me. I am so motivated to go as fast as I can on my own. I am so fortunate that my research group and my university have really given me a lot of flexibility in terms of being able to train every morning.”
Scaroni was back in her chair after three months, but the training equipment had to be modified to allow her to get workouts in. This included the use of a handcycle a few weeks after the accident.
Bleakney also had Scaroni use an upper body ergometer, an indoor bike used primarily for arm training and cardio. A workout bench was raised, attached to a handcycle so that she could lay on her back to use it.
“It's incredibly boring,” Bleakney, a Paralympic silver medalist in the 800 meters at the 2004 Athens Games, says about the ergometer. “She is just staring at the ceiling and would train on this for an hour and a half and just grind away. That alone shows her tenacity, especially if you can handle the boredom of that activity. So, there's no doubt that she would recover and start competing again. There's just a mental fortitude to working through that.”
With her sights set on a spring comeback, Scaroni’s first attempt at getting back in the fold was derailed by a positive COVID-19 test.
But the Boston Marathon in April was the start of a dominant run.
Scaroni shattered the wheelchair world record by more than a minute in Boston, then won her fourth consecutive Mini 10K in New York City and broke the 5,000-meter world mark at the Daniela Jutzeler Memorial in Nottwil, Switzerland. She went on to have a world-best time at the Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota, and then set the course record at the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta.
She placed third at the Berlin Marathon on Sept. 25 and second at the London Marathon on Oct. 2 before winning the Chicago Marathon in 1 hour, 45 minutes, and 48 seconds one week later. There, she beat defending champion Tatyana McFadden, an eight-time Paralympic gold medalist, to cap off an incredible three-week run.
Still, despite the accomplishments — and being among the favorites in New York — Scaroni is humble and puts her life in perspective. She will be competing in her second NYC Marathon, with a field stacked with some of the world's best racers including McFadden, defending champion Madison de Rozario and, four-time winner Manuela Schar.
“Especially after last September and what happened,” she said. “To be honest, I was already really happy about every day. But after that happened, I was like, I actually could have died. Not only do I want to be a role model to others, and sports gives me the biggest platform to do that, but I like to cherish the body I'm in.
"I try to really enjoy each thing I'm doing throughout the day."
The future
For now, the 31-year-old Scaroni is balancing her sporting life with an academic one.
She is completing her master's degree in nutrition science and kinesiology at Illinois, with plans to be a clinical dietitian or using her skills to work with athletes. She says an eating disorder she had in high school led to an understanding that diet and nutrition can make athletes stronger, faster and healthier, and she wants to be a future asset to those with disabilities who have a desire to reach the top. She is also a newlywed, marrying Jacob Jarrett in September.
But one thing that isn’t on her mind is retirement.
When she is not training or reading a volume of the "Lord of the Rings" books, she is focusing on her training and her job at the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee as a sports dietitian.
“My biggest legacy that I would like to have is, I really want to have a role in helping people with disabilities get access to sports and to learn how to do them," Scaroni said. "Not everyone is qualified to be a coach and we need to at least make better training for people who want to be coaches.
"I wake up so grateful I'm alive."
Follow Scooby Axson on Twitter at @ScoobAxson
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NYC Marathon set to be this American Paralympian's next big triumph
