Amy Palmiero-Winters

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Amy Palmiero-Winters
Personal information
Born (1972-08-18) August 18, 1972 (age 50)
Meadville, Pennsylvania
Website www.seeamyrun.com
Sport
SportDistance Runner
DisabilityLeg Amputee
Event(s) Marathon
Paratriathlon
Triathlon
Ultramarathon
Updated on July 14, 2015.

Amy Palmiero-Winters (born August 18, 1972) is a below-knee amputee who currently holds eleven world records in various events. In 2010, she was awarded the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States and the ESPN ESPY Award as the top female athlete with a disability in the world.

Contents

Personal life

Palmiero-Winters was born in Meadville, Pennsylvania, and competed in track and distance running from a young age. In 1994, she was involved in a motorcycle accident which crushed her left leg. After three years and twenty-five surgeries, her leg was amputated below the knee. She would not be able to run at all until three years after the amputation. [1]

Early running career

In 2004, Palmiero-Winters entered the Silver Strand Marathon. Despite being five months pregnant and running on a prosthetic leg only meant for walking, she finished second in her division. She entered the 2005 New York City Triathlon the following summer, still using a walking prosthesis as well as a bike borrowed from her employer, and placed third in her division.

At this point, Palmiero-Winters decided to engage in running on a more serious level. After obtaining a highly customized prosthetic leg from A Step Ahead Prosthetics in Hicksville, NY, she decided to relocate to New York in order to become a member of Team A Step Ahead, a group of amputee athletes professionally coached and sponsored by A Step Ahead Prosthetics. [2]

By May 2006, Palmiero-Winters had been training extensively and, with a new prosthetic, she ran the New York City Marathon in 3:24 and broke the world record for a below-knee female amputee by more than twenty-five minutes. She followed this up by running the 2006 Chicago Marathon in 3:04, which stands as the best marathon time for a below-knee amputee, male or female. [3]

Ultramarathons

By 2009, Palmiero-Winters had decided to switch from marathons to the more demanding ultramarathons, which are races longer than the marathon distance of 26.2 miles. She would run ten ultramarathons between 2009 and 2010, finishing first in the female division at the Heartland 100 Mile in October 2009 and finishing first overall at the Arizona Road Racers Run to the Future twenty-four-hour race on December 31, 2009 by running 130.4 miles during the allotted time. It was the first time an amputee had won an ultramarathon. [4]

After this performance, Palmiero-Winters was named to the US ultrarunning team for the IAU 24-Hour Ultramarathon World Championships in Brive, France. It was the first time an amputee had been named to a United States able-bodied championship team. On May 17, 2010, she finished 18th in the female division at the World Championships, running 123.99 miles. [5]

Palmiero-Winters' next race was the Western States Endurance Run on June 26, 2010. She became the first amputee to finish the 100-mile race. [4] By finishing in 27:43:10, she received the bronze buckle presented to runners who finish in under thirty hours. [6]

In 2011 Palmiero-Winters became the first female amputee to finish the Badwater Ultramarathon. [4] She had a finish time of 41:26:42. [7]

In 2019 she became the first female amputee to finish the Marathon Des Sables. [8]

Paratriathlon

Palmiero-Winters won her classification at the International Triathlon Union Paratriathlon World Championships in 2005 and 2006. [9] In 2007, Palmiero-Winters was the first athlete with a physical disability invited to race in the elite able-bodied division of the NYC Triathlon. [10]

In 2014, Palmiero-Winters became the first amputee, male or female, to complete the Ultraman triathlon, a 3-day, 320 mile race. [11]

Awards

Palmiero-Winters was named USA Triathlon's Female Physically Challenged Athlete of the Year in 2006. She was awarded the 2009 AAU James E. Sullivan Award as the best amateur athlete in the country and also won ESPN's 2010 ESPY award as the top female athlete with a disability. In 2009, she was also named the director of Team A Step Ahead.

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References

  1. ↑ "About Me". See Amy Run. Archived from the original on May 21, 2009. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
  2. ↑ "A Step Ahead: Prosthetic Limbs, Artificial Legs, Feet, Arms, Hands". Astepaheadonline.com. August 18, 1972. Archived from the original on January 10, 2008. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
  3. ↑ Stanfield, Morgan. "Amy Palmiero-Winters: Running for Her Life | August 2010 | The O&P EDGE". oandp.com. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 "Amputee Runner Amy Palmiero-Winters Finishes World's Toughest Foot Race, The Badwater Ultramarathon". Endurancemag.com. July 13, 2011. Archived from the original on March 28, 2012. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
  5. ↑ "24 heures de Brive-la-Gaillarde". 24h-brive.fr. Archived from the original on October 19, 2016. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
  6. ↑ "The Western States Endurance Run is one of the oldest ultra trail events in the world and certainly one of the most challenging". See Amy Run. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
  7. ↑ "Twitter / AdventureCORPS: Amy Palmiero-Winters, the". Twitter.com. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
  8. ↑ Longman, Jere (April 25, 2019). "An Amputee's Toughest Challenge Yet: Her 140-Mile Run in the Deser". New York Times. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
  9. ↑ "Amputee World Record Holder in Marathon and Triathlon: Amy Palmiero-Winters Wins Runners World Heroes of Running Award" . Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  10. ↑ By MARCELLE S. FISCHLERNOV. 11, 2007 (November 11, 2007). "Chasing Dreams, Amputee Inspires Others - The New York Times". Nytimes.com. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
  11. ↑ "Amy Palmiero-Winters Completes Ultraman Race" . Retrieved March 8, 2014.
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