I’ve always enjoyed just pushing myself and seeing how far can I go. how fast can I go. is something this25-year-old hasbeen chasing sincehe was a kid. I didn’t grow up with people telling me, “Figure out how to do it.” a birth defect affecting the spine. He’s been in a wheelchair since he was five — a decision he madeafter trying towalk with braces. So really, the wheelchair was freedom for me. He took that freedom with the help of the Bennett Blazers, an adaptive sports program inBaltimore, Maryland, where he grew up. The Bennett Blazers motto: Teach kids they can before someone tells them they can’t. For Romanchuk,that perspective was a guide post all his life, leading him to the Rio Paralympics in 2016at age 17 and his first gold medal at the following Gamesin Tokyo. He won by a wheel. Romanchuck sayshe was thinkingabout his family. Today, Romanchukand his mom, Kim,are a team. They’ve traveledaround the world together competing, winning dozens of marathons and races in the last 10 years. He’s going for goldagain at this year’s Paralympics. Beyond that,his eyes are set What do I want to do beyond racing? I would say those things are almost more meaningful to me than, you know, winning titles and things like that. We want to giveas many other people the same opportunities that I’ve had.