SANTIAGO, Chile — On the second official day of the 2023 Parapan American Games, Team USA replicated its success from the first day and won across multiple competitions. 

Highlighting the day, Bobby Body set a Parapan American Games powerlifting record with a 228 kilogram bench press on his third attempt of the day in the Men’s up to 107 kilogram powerlifting contest, earning a gold medal. Body overtook first place with a 216 kilogram lift in the first round, and never looked back as no other competitor was within 10 kilograms of him.

“You have to want it,” Body said. “If you want to get to the Paralympic games you have to want it.” 

With a clean performance and zero turnovers on the day, Wheelchair Rugby stayed hot and beat Colombia by 12 tries. Sarah Adam and Charles Aoki combined for 34 tries to propel the team to the win.

In Men’s Wheelchair Basketball, Team USA cruised past Brazil in a convincing 82-42 win. Jacob Williams led all scorers with 20 points and five Team USA players tallied double figures in the winning effort. 

The individual Wheelchair Tennis competitors each won their matchups. Team USA Flag bearer Dana Mathewson beat Brazil’s Meirycoll Duval in two sets, as did teammate Maylee Phelps against Brazil’s Maria Alves. 

In Shooting, the USA had two podium finishers in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 competition. Marco De La Rosa finished first overall with a score of 227.6, and Yanxiao Gong finished in third with a score of 204.7.

At Centro Acquatico, Cali Prochaska and Taylor Winnett each earned a gold medal in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley for SM9 and SM10 respectively.  

Team USA also had three cyclists earn gold medals on the day. Samantha Bosco won the Women’s C1 Individual Time Trial, Ryan Pinney won the Men’s H1-5 Individual Time Trial and Kate Brim won the Women’s H1-5 Individual Time Trial.

“The competitors around me really push me and gold is a beautiful, beautiful color,” Pinney said. “I get to enjoy it today but the reward for hard work is more hard work so I’m excited to get back to training and get more of this color in the future.” 

PHOTO OF THE DAY:

On Monday: CP Football, men’s and women’s wheelchair basketball, goalball and CP Rugby teams are all in action. Team USA athletes will also feature in powerlifting, judo, wheelchair tennis, swimming, shooting, boccia and archery. 

Check out the Wheelchair Sports Federation Media Page for constant coverage throughout the 2023 Parapan American Games.