Penn State alumna Shawn Morelli secured a gold medal for Team USA Monday at this year’s Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

Morelli won the Women’s C4 Time Trial with an impressive mark of 39:33.79.

This is now the Nittany Lion’s fourth career Paralympics medal. Just last week, Morelli secured Team USA’s first medal of this year’s Paralympic Games by winning silver in the women’s C4 3000-meter individual pursuit.

Morelli is a United States Army Veteran. She began her cycling career just after a 2007 deployment to Afghanistan in which she was seriously injured by an IED. Morelli suffered severe damage to her spine and neck, brain trauma, and blindness in her left eye.

After her recovery, Morelli took part in her first cycling competition in 2010, and went on to win two gold medals at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games for Team USA. She even broke her own world record in track cycling’s 3000-meter pursuit during the qualifying round.

Morelli hails from Meadville, Pennsylvania and graduated from Penn State Behrend in 1998.

About the Author

Will Pegler

Will is a senior majoring in digital and print journalism and is an associate editor for Onward State. He is from Darien, Connecticut and is a lifelong Penn State football fan. He loves a good 80's comedy movie, Peaky Blinders, The Office, and the New York Yankees and Giants. You can catch some of his ridiculous sports takes on his Twitter @gritdude and yell at him on his email willpegler@onwardstate.com

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