2021 Heroes of Sport: Episode 40 | Trenten Merrill

Have you met CAF athlete Trenten Merrill yet? He is currently in Tokyo ready to compete in the T64 Men’s Long Jump, on September 1st!

Growing up, Trenten competed at the elite level in motocross and soccer. In 2005, he was hit by a car while crossing the street, and as a result, he became a single below knee amputee.

Initially, he thought that his dreams of becoming a professional athlete were gone, however he immediately returned to athletics by running, playing sports with friends and getting back into motocross.

He attended a CAF + Össur Running and Mobility clinic where he met a number of elite adaptive athletes and saw the difference that a running foot can make. He finally got his own running foot in his first year of college and shortly after joined the track team.

Trenten has been on the Team USA Track and Field team since 2015, where he made his competition debut at the IPC Athletics World Championships, and again in the 2016 games in Rio. He currently holds the American record for the long jump, and is 100 percent ready for the starting line in Tokyo!