Utah’s 13-year-old Cederholm swims for bronze at Parapan Am Games

Chloe Cederholm shines at the Parapan Am Games as the youngerst American competing in Chile. Photo: courtesy of USOPC

SANTIAGO, Chile – Cali Prochaska (Fort Wayne, Indiana) and Taylor Winnett (Carlsbad, California) tallied Team USA’s first swimming golds to close out the second day of competition at the Parapan American Games Santiago 2023 on Sunday. 

What made their golds extra special was sharing the podium with their teammates. 

The women’s 200m IM SM9 was a race between Prochaska and Keegan Knott (Lake Villa, Illinois), with Prochaska touching the wall almost a second faster. 

For Knott, the silver medal was a long time coming after trips to the Parapan American Games Lima 2019 and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020. 

Winnett dominated in the equivalent SM10 event for her second medal in Santiago — and first major international gold. During the medal ceremony, the 24-year-old happily took third-place finisher Chloe Cederholm (Salt Lake City, Utah) around her arm, smiling. The 13-year-old is the youngest member of the entire Team USA at Santiago 2023 and made a major splash in her international debut. 

“Coming here has been an amazing experience, yes, being super young and being able to experience this, but also being able to see the older swimmers help younger people like me,” Cederholm said to U.S. Paralympic Swimming. “It gets me so excited in what I’m going to be able to do to help younger people someday.”

The U.S. men made a push for the top of the podium but fell just short.

Team USA Medals –  Nov. 19

GOLD

Cali Prochaska – women’s 200 IM SM9

Taylor Winnett – women’s 200m IM SM10
 

SILVER

Adin Williams – men’s 400m freestyle S7

Keegan Knott – women’s 200m IM SM9

David Gelfand – men’s 200m IM SM9 

Jack O’Neil – men’s 100m backstroke S8

BRONZE

Chloe Cederholm – women’s 200m IM SM10