Hanssen and Schoonover Make Paralympic Debut With Top 16 Finishes

PARIS, France - On the opening day of wheelchair fencing at the 2024 Paralympic Games, Noah Hanssen and Garrett Schoonover made their debuts, officially becoming Paralympians.

Hanssen fell to Feng (CHN) in his first round of the Men’s Saber Category B event, but moved on to repechage later in the afternoon to continue fencing.

Schoonover represented Team USA in the Men’s Saber Category A competition where he fell to the three seed, Schmidt (GER). 

On making his Paralympic debut, Schoonover said “It's a lot like the first World Cup. You know, it's hard to really have any sort of expectations, so you just come in and move through it, figure out what you can learn, what you can do to move on to the next.”

“I always say, get the stupid out in pools, and since we don't have pools, I had to get my stupid out here.”

Hanssen took on Alderete of Argentina where he won, 15-5. On his first Paralympic victory he said “It feels good. I was definitely nervous in the first bout, so I definitely felt a lot better, a little bit more focused on the second one.”

Schoonover will be back on the strip tomorrow for the men’s individual foil competition. Both will rejoin the entire squad on the women’s and men’s foil team days.

Garrett Schoonover lost to Maurice Schmidt (GER), 15-3

Garrett Schoonover lost to Damasceno (BRA), 15-13
 

Noah Hanssen lost to Yanke Feng (CHN), 15-4

Noah Hanssen def.  Alderete (ARG), 15-5

Noah Hanssen lost to Coutya (GBR), 15-5