My name is Justin Phongsavanh and I am a 24 year old Asian American Paralympian on the National team. In 2015 at the age of 18, I was involved in a random act of violence in a McDonald’s parking lot that resulted in me being shot twice by an individual with PTSD. As a result I was immediately paralyzed from the chest down. A year after my injury I enrolled in college and discovered Paralympic sports. I began training in the summer of 2017. I have thus achieved National records in all throws events in my class and powerlifting. I have obtained prestigious awards from NGB’s and given back to the adaptive sports community by mentoring, speaking and coaching. My athletic accomplishments to this point is gold medals in 2015 national championships, and 2019 ParaPanAmerican games all in javelin. In June of 2021 at the Paralympic trials in Minneapolis I broke the world record with a throw of 33.29. I later obtain bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games. I travel the country and coach.