Falmouth-born Clara Brown nearly crashed her bicycle right before the finish line at the recent Paralympic Games in Paris.
Midway through the final sprint of the women's C1-3 road race (54.6 kilometers), Brown's right arm suddenly went limp and forced her into an awkward pose with her chest up against the handlebars. Unable to properly pedal, she lost her second-place position but miraculously held on for third place, finishing one second ahead of Sweden's Anna Beck with a time of 1:38:48.
"I couldn't handle my bike at all. I was really trying not to crash," Brown said. "It was terrifying, but it felt pretty amazing when I crossed the finish line. I knew I had it in me to medal."
The final 75 meters of Brown's first-ever Paralympic medal finish epitomized all the mixed fortune the 28-year-old has experienced in her lifetime.
Born with a competitive spirit and raised as the third child of four, Brown had a very active childhood that drastically changed at the age of 12. In a freak gymnastics accident, Brown fell on her head and damaged her cervical vertebrae, suddenly becoming paralyzed from the neck down.
"It felt like I was floating. I didn't understand the severity of it," Brown said. "I remember in the ambulance the nurse told me I'd never walk again."
Luckily, the nature of Brown's cervical spine injury allowed her to begin weight-assisted treadmill training rather quickly, and within months she was walking again -- before an unknown condition put her in a wheelchair for two years and ultimately resulted in a hip replacement at age 15.
According to Brown, the original spinal injury from gymnastics was likely behind the chronic pain in her hip. To this day, she still has no sense of touch on the left side of her body, and limited motor control on the right. She derives anywhere between 60 and 70 percent of her power as a cyclist from the left side, but she can only test the temperature of water, for instance, with her right.
"I was really goal-oriented and making a lot of progress. It was really hard to have this obvious setback with my hip," Brown said. "I was in a lot of pain, and there were lots of things I missed out on."
From there, Brown's athletic career -- and mental health -- had two key turning points: when she realized her passion for rowing in high school, and then biking in college.
Standing at just 5-foot-2, Brown found a natural role for herself as a coxswain for youth and master's teams around Falmouth and Yarmouth. By the time she started school at the University of Puget Sound in Washington, the novelty of coxswaining had worn off, so a friend encouraged her to try cycling with a modified gear-shifting system to account for her neurological impairments.
Brown was hooked.
"I was good at coxing and really connected with the crews, but it was hard to watch everyone else push themselves," Brown said. "I wanted to push myself like that, so biking [became] my outlet. It felt pretty natural, and I loved seeing the world by bike."
Gaining confidence and strength, the Cumberland resident joined the USA Paralympic team in 2018 as a C3 competitor (moderate limb dysfunction for upright cyclists) and would go on to win multiple World Cups and even qualify for Tokyo.
Competing in Paris was a peak moment for Brown, who was able to participate in front of live spectators and stay in the Village (the Tokyo Olympics took place during the pandemic). She finished eighth in the women's C1-3 individual time trial on Sept. 4 before medaling in the women's C1-3 road race on Sept. 7.
"I want to make everyone that's supported me proud, and maximize what I have out of my body," Brown said. "So many people would kill to be in my position. I'm really lucky."