McKenzie Coan always wanted to medal in the Olympics, and she can now scratch that off her list after winning the gold medal in the 50 meter freestyle event Friday night in Rio.
Coan, a 20-year-old from Clarkesville, Georgia, is a two-time Paralympian who’s now completed two of her seven events in the Rio Games. She’s off to a great start with the gold medal and a fifth-place finish in Thursday’s 100 meter backstroke.
Coan set a Paralympic record in her 50 meter freestyle heat, taking first place with a 32.57 time. She bested that later on Friday night when she took the gold with a 32.42 mark.
With two events down, Coan has five more events to participate in. She’ll get a couple of days off before Monday’s 50 meter butterfly, and follows that up with the 400 meter freestyle on Wednesday, 4×100 freestyle relay on Thursday, and both the 100 meter freestyle and 4×100 medley relay on Friday.
Coan competes in the S7 classification and has been a member of Team USA for the past four years, winning a silver medal at the 2015 World championships in the 4×100 freestyle relay.
