Over 4,000 athletes with disabilities attended the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, which ended this week. Great Britain finished second with 124 medals; 49 Gold, 44 Silver and 31 Bronze.

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One of the most notable events (the men's 5,000-metre wheelchair race) reached a nail-biting finish, finally being won by Danial Romanchuk of the USA. 26-year-old Romanchuk, born with spina bifida, is no stranger to success. After placing third in the London Marathon in April of 2018, he went on to win the Chicago Marathon in October of that year. This was where he first competed against Switzerland's Marcel Hug (more about him later!).

Just one month later, he won the New York Wheelchair Marathon, becoming the youngest person to ever achieve this remarkable feat. Romanchuk also competed at the Summer Paralympic Games in Tokyo in 2020, winning a bronze medal in the men's wheelchair marathon and a gold medal in the men's 400-metre wheelchair race. 

At the tender age of just five years old, Romachuk decided that using a wheelchair would be preferable to walking with braces. "I basically told my parents I'm done with walking [and] I want to use a wheelchair", he said in a recent CBS interview. He made the transition to using a wheelchair with the aid of an adaptive sports program offered by Bennett Blazers. The group helps young people with disabilities to first set and then reach their goals. 

Before he travelled to Paris for the Paralympic Games, Romanchuk spent several weeks assisting at a basketball camp run by the Bennett Blazers group. He has also spearheaded his own nonprofit organisation called 'Wheels for Change', which exists to 'change the perception of disabilities through wheelchair racing'.   

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Romanchuk undertook a gruelling six-days-a-week training schedule in the months before the 2024 Paralympic Games, starting with a warm-up of five miles. This was followed by a series of punishing 'hill drills', which saw his wheelchair reach blistering speeds of up to 40 miles per hour.  

All of the training paid off handsomely on Saturday the 31st of August, when Romanchuk romped to gold-medal victory in the men's 5,000-metre wheelchair race. 10 athletes, including the aforementioned Marcel Hug, took part in the exciting race. Hug, a six-time Paralympic champion who also has spina bifida, had to settle for the silver medal, crossing the line just half a second after his rival. Faisal Alrajehi from Kuwait came in third to bag the bronze.

SDO® helps improve independence

Living with spina bifida can be challenging but there are numerous methods of making life easier, including wearing dynamic compression garments from the Sensory Dynamic Orthosis (SDO®) Original and SDO® Lite collections from Medigarments Ltd. Please browse our website for further information and get in touch with our clinical team if you have any questions or need advice. 

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Medigarments Ltd is the company behind the internationally recognised brands Jobskin^® and SDO^®. We lead the way in rehabilitation therapy and are the largest UK manufacturer of specialist custom compression garments supplied through therapy and orthotic professionals.­ Our reputation for the design and supply of technically advanced garments has been built over 40 years supplying the highest quality made-to-measure products. Our garments are used to manage scarring as a result of burns or traumatic injuries. In the field of dynamic compression, they are used to increase sensory and proprioceptive feedback as well as provide musculoskeletal support.

We are dedicated to providing the ultimate in therapy management, with a focus on improving patient quality of life.

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