New to Long Jump, U.S. Paralympians Lambert and Wallace Form Unlikely Partnership

After an early workout session at Team USA’s high-performance center at the Paralympics, Noelle Lambert spots Jarryd Wallace by the side of the track. Loaded down with bags and a full-leg prosthetic, she stops to tell him that she’s switching blades. The new, softer one she trained with earlier in the day doesn’t give her the same return she is used to.

“Are you going to train in the morning again?” asks Wallace, a 34-year-old veteran in his fourth Paralympic Games.

“Yeah,” says Lambert, a 27-year-old competing in her second Paralympics.

“Just send me some videos.”

“Okay, I will, I will.”

The two compete in para athletics, Wallace in the T64 category for athletes with below-the-knee amputations and Lambert in T63, for athletes with above-the-knee amputations.

While they may sound like mentor and student, Wallace and Lambert are teammates for Team USA at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. Despite being in different stages of their careers, they have both found a new passion in their shared transition from sprinting to the long jump at this year’s Paralympic Games.

For Wallace, switching events has saved him from burnout after competing in three Paralympic cycles of sprint events.

“I wasn’t having fun, and I think that’s always been kind of my marker,” Wallace said. “But I just didn’t feel like I was supposed to be done with track.”

For Lambert, adding a new event in her second Paralympic Games feeds an incessant desire to put herself in new and uncomfortable positions. It can be hard to trust something that is not part of you.

“The prosthetic is attached to my body, yes, but it’s not 100% mine,” Lambert said. “So it can be kind of scary, putting all your weight into something and having it launch you in the air.”