UNC alum and Army veteran Kelly Elmlinger prepares for the Paris Paralympics

North Carolina Tar Heels fans still have a chance to cheer on a fellow Tar Heel in Paris. The Paralympics begin on August 29 (with the opening ceremony on August 28) and run through September 8, with the closing ceremony that night.

On September 1 and 2, former Army medic and North Carolina graduate Kelly Elmlinger will compete in the para-triathlon in the women's PTS4 category. For those unfamiliar, the International Paralympic Committee classifies PTS4 as:

""Moderate impairments. In both bike and run segments, amputee athletes may use approved prostheses or other supportive devices. Includes athletes with comparable activity limitation and an impairment of, but not limited to, limb deficiency, hypertonia, ataxia and/or athetosis, impaired muscle power or range of movement.""

- World Triathlon

Kelly Elmlinger served as an Army medic in the 82nd Airborne Division's Combat Aviation Unit. She deployed three times with the 82nd, once to Afghanistan and twice to Iraq. Her unit's specialty was downed aircraft recovery, a job that unfortunately required her to recover the remains of soldiers from aircraft crashes and shootdowns. There is very little rescue in that mission, most of the time it's just recovery.

While at Fort Liberty, Elmlinger attended North Carolina and earned her orthopedic nursing degree in 2010. She moved to San Antonio to work as an Army nurse at the Brooks Army Medical Center (BAMC), turning her attention from battlefield care to longer-term care in a military treatment facility. She requested a post on the orthopedics floor, where she dealt with soldiers suffering from catastrophic injuries, including multiple amputees.

Ironically, it was at BAMC that doctors discovered that some long-term pain in her left shin was caused by synovial sarcoma, a rare form of soft-tissue cancer. Suddenly, Elmlinger went from being a nurse to a patient in her own hospital.

The good news? She was surrounded by her co-workers. Friends.

Elmlinger was always an athlete and became a tough, resilient paratrooper. She initially didn't want to amputate her leg and instead underwent procedures to remove the cancer while salvaging her limb. After initial surgeries, she was able to compete in the 2014 and 2015 Department of Defense Warrior Games, but eventually, her quality of life was deteriorating along with her left leg. Elmlinger said this about her decision to amputate her leg:

""When I started competing, I was still trying to figure out who I was: a new identity, a wounded warrior, an adaptive athlete. All these different things; I didn’t even know what my capabilities were... I knew there was more. There was more to what I can be. More to my potential, more that I can do, and give back to others. I wanted to go all in to keep my leg before I said I’m done. It took me a while to get there, but I was dragging around dead weight.""

Elmlinger competed in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics (held in 2021 due to Covid-19). Back then, the Paralympics did not have a PTS4 classification race, so she raced in the more difficult PTS5 classification. Despite the disadvantage, Elmlinger finished an impressive seventh in the field.

This year, Elmlinger will compete in the Paralympics for the first time as a PTS4, and she's on the heels of a nine-race winning streak, including the 2023 World Championship. She should have a great shot at winning a medal in Paris.

Best of luck to Kelly Elmlinger, who reminds us it's always a great day to be a Tar Heel.

If you have the time to spare, listen to Kelly Elmlinger speak about her experiences with the Army, medicine, and the Paralympics.