LOWELL, Michigan — A cyclist will be representing Lowell, Michigan in Paris at the 2024 Paralympics.
Kate Brim, 26, is no stranger to the Olympic stage. She became a world champion in women's handcycling after winning four gold medals in her Paralympics debut in 2022.
She garnered two gold medals in the time trial and road race at the World Cup and the final two in the time trial and road race at the World Championship. Brim then went on to win nearly every major race in which she has competed.
That's why she was selected as one of just 13 cyclists from across the country selected to represent Team USA at the Paralympic Games.
Brim had complications from a surgery when she was 19 and developed a spinal cord injury that slowly made her lose strength and function. She spent a year and a half recovering at Mary Free Bed in Grand Rapids.
Her injury provided a new opportunity — it “set a fire in me,” Brim said.
While recovering, she joined the Grand Rapids Thunder wheelchair rugby team and Mary Free Bed's handcycling team. Her first year competing was in 2021, when she was crowned the winner of the woman's handcycle division of the Amway River Bank Run.
“I’m not going to let this injury define where I go in life," Brim said.
Brim will compete with Team USA in the Paralympics beginning in late August.
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