McKenzie Coan launches “Breaking Free”
Paralympic gold medalist McKenzie Coan can now add a new title to her name: author. McKenzie launched Breaking Free on August 11, sharing her story on how she finds strength through swimming, despite the limited expectations placed on her by having osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease. With her graceful freestyle stroke and never-quit attitude, McKenzie breaks through the barriers of disability and lives a life of hope on the Paralympic stage and beyond.
Lead Sports Co. has been fortunate to work with McKenzie on many occasions but none more touching than her keynote at the 2019 Lead Summit in Atlanta, Georgia. Though her stature is small, McKenzie commanded the room sharing her story of grit, perseverance, and ultimately how she overcame a life threatening diagnosis at birth to become one of the greatest athletes of our generation.
While writing her book, McKenzie prepared herself for law school (she was accepted into Rutgers Law earlier this year) and trained for the 2021 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
You can tune into her races at the end of August to cheer her on as she competes in her third Paralympic Games.
How/when to watch McKenzie at the Tokyo Paralympics
Sunday, August 29th prelims session:
400m freestyle S7 (around 9AM JST —> 8PM EST)
Sunday, August 29th finals session:
400m freestyle S7 (around 5PM —> 4AM EST)
Monday, August 30th prelims session:
100m backstroke S7 (around 9AM JST —> 8PM EST)
Monday, August 30th prelims session:
100m backstroke S7 (around 9AM JST —> 8PM EST)
Monday, August 30th finals session:
100m backstroke S7 (around 5PM —> 4AM EST)
Tuesday, August 31st prelims session:
100m freestyle S7 (no definitive start time yet - will be about an hour into this prelims session so around 10 AM JST —> 9PM EST)
Tuesday, August 31st finals session:
100m freestyle S7 (no definitive start time yet - will be about an hour into this finals session, so around 6PM JST —> 5AM EST)
Wednesday, September 1st prelims session:
50M freestyle S8 (no definitive start time yet - will be about an hour into this prelims session, so around 10 AM JST —> 9PM EST)
Wednesday, September 1st finals session:
50M freestyle S8 (no definitive start time yet - will be about an hour into this finals session, so around 6PM JST —> 5AM EST)
