Alumna Morgan Stickney (’23) blew the competition out of the water at the Paris 2024 Paralympics. Winning gold in the 400-meter freestyle S7, Stickney not only medaled, but for that race by 2.86 seconds. She also won the silver medal for the 100-meter freestyle S7, which was live streamed in the Chase Gymnasium on Biola’s campus on Wednesday, Sept. 4 for students, staff and faculty to watch after the Fall Convocation chapel.

“I’m really proud to bring home a medal for team USA,” said Stickney in an interview with NBC after her silver medal race.

Stickney performed remarkably well in the 2024 Paralympic trials in June, setting a , making the Biola community excited to watch her in the Paralympics again. Stickney won two Paralympic gold medals in the 400-meter freestyle and 4x100-meter medley relay for the United States in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

Stickney has had to overcome very difficult challenges with her health, and is still actively receiving treatment for her condition. She began at Biola in 2016 when she was ranked as a top-20 American freestyle swimmer and swam on Biola’s swim team as a freshman. Soon after, pain from a previously broken sesamoid bone in her left big toe quickly worsened leaving her unable to compete or swim. In 2017, she developed a staph infection in her foot and the then-20-year-old made the difficult decision to amputate her foot. More infections and a cardiovascular condition that blocked blood flow to her lower legs led to her becoming a bilateral amputee.

“Morgan worked hard to navigate life — and the pool — without both her lower legs. Having had to move on from her dream of Olympic competition, she reset her sights now on another world