SEVEN-TIME WORLD CHAMPION AARON SCHEIDIES FINALLY HAS HIS PARALYMPIC TRIATHLON OPPORTUNITY

Aaron Scheidies already has one of the most impressive resumes of any U.S. triathlete ever. But there’s still one dream the 39-year-old has yet to realize: a chance to compete in the Paralympic Games in a sport he has dominated for nearly two decades.

“My goal is to win gold,” Scheidies told USA Triathlon in a late March Zoom interview. “This is the reason I’ve stayed competitive in the sport.”

Scheidies has just 20/500 visual acuity due to a disease called Stargardt’s that came on at an early age. He first started noticing the signs when he was in the second grade, and his eyesight has progressively declined ever since. It didn’t stop him from becoming a world-class athlete. 

A seven-time ITU Paratriathlon World Champion and eight-time USA Paratriathlon National Champion, Scheidies competes in the men’s visually impaired (PTVI) paratriathlon division on the World Triathlon circuit. While paratriathlon as a whole made its Paralympic debut in Rio in 2016, the men’s PTVI classification was not included — so Scheidies’ category will be featured for the first time at the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games this August.

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