Arkansas Tech University alumna Kaitlin Bounds is on her way to Paris to represent the United States of America.
Bounds will be a member of the Team USA Paralympic track and field team in the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games Aug. 28-Sept. 8 in France.
It will be the Paralympic Games debut for Bounds, who will compete as a distance runner. She is among 54 athletes who earned a spot on the United States Paralympic track and field team during the 2024 U.S. Paralympic trials at the Ansin Sports Complex in Miramar, Fla., July 18-20.
Bounds, who was diagnosed with autism at age 4, graduated from ATU in 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history.
A resident of Russellville, Bounds earned four letters as a member of the Arkansas Tech cross country program. She was named All-Gulf South Conference in 2010 and was a multiple academic all-conference honoree, earning recognition for her classroom performance in both the GSC and the Great American Conference.
"We are so proud of each and every one of these athletes," said Sherrice Fox, director of U.S. Paralympics track and field, in a news release. "Each one of them has proven themselves to be among the best in the world, and we can't wait to see them at their best in Paris."
Paris 2024 will be Bounds' first Paralympic Games, but she is very familiar with international competition. She was a member of Team USA at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships track and field competition in Paris, France, and the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships track and field competition in London, England.
Bounds is the only Arkansan to earn a place on the Team USA Paralympic track and field team for Paris 2024.
Based in Colorado Springs, Colo., U.S. Paralympics, a division of the nonprofit United States Olympic Committee, states on its website that it is "dedicated to becoming the world leader in the paralympic movement and promoting excellence in the lives of people with paralympic-eligible impairments, including physical disabilities and visual impairments."
