Triathlete living in Elk Grove wins silver medal at Paralympic Games after 8-year hiatus

Mohamed Lahna won the silver medal for Team USA last week in the men’s PTS2 triathlon at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games after not competing in eight years.

“I’m so grateful, proud and honored,” Lahna said. “It’s been a mix of emotions to know that I have been working so hard to get here, with so many people supporting me but also feeling there is more on the table.”

Lahna last competed at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, earning bronze as a member of the Morocco national team.

Lahna was born and raised in Casablanca. He lived there until his mid-20s before he moved to France and then the United States in 2013. He gained U.S. citizenship in 2017, having spent time living in Elk Grove and Hayward.

Lahna said he loves Elk Grove for running, particularly in the morning or just before the sunset when it’s calm; in addition to the capital region’s welcoming Muslim community.

He was initially nervous heading into the Paris Games because of an eight-year hiatus due to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games in Japan not hosting his event.

Lahna said he prepared for years, training in places such as Colorado Springs and Vichy, France. He went into competition injury-free, ready to execute.

Assessing his performance

It hadn’t immediately sunk in that he was a silver medalist on Sept. 2.

“Since Rio 2016, I have been working hard to be here, to be part of Team USA on the biggest stage for sports,” Lahna said. “A lot of ups and downs, a roller coaster of emotions throughout these past eight years. Hamdo li Allah (thank God) for my family, friends, my coach and the USAT staff for supporting me through this journey.”

The triathlon event tests athletes’ endurance through a race consisting of a 750-meter swim, a 20-kilometer bike ride and a 5k run.

Lahna got off to a slow start in the swimming competition by finishing fifth. He then made up ground during the transition to the bike race and jumped to third. He rounded out his performance out during the 5k run, cementing his second-place finish.

“I will say that I had a decent swim-bike, but not what I was hoping for on the run,” Lahna said. “At the end of the day, the result was a silver medal and I can’t complain.

“As an athlete, I will always want more from myself.”

Overcoming challenges

Lahna was born with proximal femoral focal deficiency, a complex birth defect where the upper part of the femur bone is malformed or missing. Lahna considers himself lucky that he grew up without a femur.

“I was born with this disability, so this is who I am,” he said. “I didn’t have an accident or anything, so missing part of my hip socket, and my missing the femur and all that stuff ... I grew up with that, and it’s part of me”

One of the main challenges he faced growing up, he said, was accessibility to running, leg adaptive equipment for cycling and other sports.

“That was a struggle to get to that point, and it took a lot of time to overcome that. We are still learning and we are still improving our equipment.”

Lahna is appreciative of the journey that has allowed him to compete and those who supported him along the way.

He’s competed in the Ironman competitions, Xterra, the Marathon des Sables across the Sahara Desert and the Escape from Alcatraz in San Francisco, to name a few.

“I’m just very grateful,” Lahna said. “Grateful to God for this journey, grateful to a lot of the friends, the family, my pet, my parents, and how they raised me. The people that I met along this journey, including my wife (Ru Chen) that I met here in the U.S. (in 2009), and we have three children ... without all these people, I would not be here.”

“We didn’t have much. Just keep hope, keep grinding and working and things will come. You just need patience and surrounding yourself with nice people. And things will be fine,” he said. “It’s a long journey, be patient. … Be consistent. Big dreams take time and you need to be patient with that.”

The 42-year-old wants his three children and others to know that any challenge can be conquered.

“It’s a long journey, be patient. ... Be consistent. Big dreams take time and you need to be patient with that. ... It doesn’t necessarily have to be a limb, it can be anything in life that we don’t have, it’s not the end of the world. You just keep moving forward. Find your passion, find your dream, focus on it and keep going.”

This story was originally published September 7, 2024 at 2:09 PM.