September 16, 2024
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Huntley grad Owen Cravens just misses medal at Paris Paralympics

By Claire O'Brien
Owens Cravens, left, and his guide Ben Hoffman, run past the French National Assembly in Paris, where Cravens competed in the triathlon at the 2024 Paralympics.

Owens Cravens, left, and his guide Ben Hoffman, run past the French National Assembly in Paris, where Cravens competed in the triathlon at the 2024 Paralympics. (Photo provided by World Triathlon by Tommy Zaferes)

Owen Cravens, a Huntley High School graduate and Algonquin resident, finished in fourth place and just missed out on a medal in the men’s PTVI paratriathlon Monday at his Paris Paralympics debut.

The PTVI category consists of athletes with visual impairments. Cravens was diagnosed with Stargardt Disease as a child, which causes vision loss in children and young adults.

Cravens just barely missed taking home the bronze medal. He finished in a time of 1:00.43, according to the Paralympics results.

Dave Ellis of Great Britain took gold with a time of 58:41, Thibaut Rigaudeau of France won silver with a time of 1:00.05 and Antoine Perel, also of France, finished with bronze with a time of 1:00.25.

Cravens completed the swimming segment, consisting of 750 meters, in 13:31; the biking segment, which was 20 kilometers, in 27:27; and ran a 5K in 18:19, according to Paralympics statistics.

Fellow American Kyle Coon of Carbondale, Colorado, finished eighth in the paratriathlon, with a time of 1:02.47. Coon previously competed at the Tokyo Paralympics and raced with Marty Andrie. Coon’s usual guide, Zack Goodman, couldn’t race because of illness, according to the USA Triathlon website.

Cravens, 21, graduated from Huntley High School in 2021 and is set to graduate from Arizona State University next year. At Arizona State, he participates in USA Triathlon’s Project Podium program, according to his USA Triathlon bio.

Ben Hoffman, a professional triathlete, served as Cravens’ guide at the Paralympics.

Huntley High School principal Marcus Belin made a video last week giving Cravens a shoutout before the competition. Following Belin’s shoutout, the video panned to an assembly and a gym full of students cheering for Cravens.

While at Huntley High, Cravens participated in cross country and track and was among the Red Raiders’ top returning runners his senior year. His mother, Dede, told the Northwest Herald her son had played soccer before his diagnosis with Stargardt Disease.

Competing at the Paralympics has been a longtime goal for Cravens. In a District 158 news release announcing Cravens as the winner of the Infinitec North Technology Achievement Award in 2020, he had become a two-time national junior paratriathlete champion and wanted to utimately compete in the Paralympics.

Cravens is also the subject of a documentary, Looking Forward, made by filmmaker Devon Gulati. Gulati’s film follows Cravens’ journey to the Paris Paralympics, starting when Cravens was 11 and beginning to lose his central vision. The trailer for the film has been up on YouTube since Aug. 16.

The next Paralympics will be in Los Angeles in 2028. California has historically been a strong state for Cravens, who took first place at the World Triathlon Para Cup Long Beach last year. Hoffman was his guide in that competition as well, and Cravens finished with a time of 59:17, according to triathlon.org results.

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