Forging Ahead, Paralympian Keegan Knott Now Readies For Her World Championships Debut

Keegan Knott has been to two Paralympic Games and a Parapan American Games, but there is one major international meet missing from her resume: the world championships.

That will change in two months when Knott makes her debut at the World Para Swimming Championships in Singapore, being held Sept. 21-27.

“It’s been a long, long journey to get here to my first world champs,” the 20-year-old Knott said. “I’m really excited to get to go, and also to get to go to Singapore. I’ve never been to that part of the world before, so that makes it even more exciting.”

Knott is one of 13 women and seven men who will represent Team USA at the gathering of the world’s finest. This will be the first major international championship since the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris nearly a year ago.

Although that was Knott’s second trip to the Paralympics, it felt more like her first. Knott, a rising junior at Northern Arizona, went to the Paralympics in Tokyo in 2021 (delayed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic) but said it felt like she barely touched down in Japan before she had to turn around and leave.

“My event was the first day; it was the second event of the entire swimming program, and I left the next day because of the covid regulations,” said the native of Lake Villa, Illinois. “So it’s weird, because I can say I went to the Tokyo Games and competed, but it felt like I wasn’t there. It was just so quick.”

Fortunately Paris was a different story.

A distance specialist, she once again competed in the 400-meter freestyle S9, improving from 12th in the event in 2021 to 10th in 2024. But she also was able to stay in Paris with her teammates and experience the Games and the city by going to a blind soccer match, visiting the Eiffel Tower and checking out some local coffee shops and restaurants.

But the best part, Knott said, was simply being there.

“The hardest thing for me after Tokyo was the what if,” she said. “Will I ever make it to another Games? And so getting to be there again and getting to compete again was just gratifying.” 

After she got home it was right back to class, and she only had two weeks off before she had to start training for her college swim season. The end of her sophomore season didn’t offer much opportunity for a break, either, with the Para Swimming World Series that served as the lone selection event for the world championships coming up in Indianapolis in just two months.

“I had a decent year after Games,” Knott said. “Jumping right into the college season was a little rough, but I just stuck with my coach, and he trained me really hard the entire year. I did great at conference, broke two American records in the 1,000 and the 1,650, took a few days off then went straight into training for Indy.”

Knott would love nothing more than for greater distances than the 400-meter to be included in the Paralympic schedule.

“Oh man, if they had the 800 and 1,500, I would love that,” she said. “The 400 feels more like a sprint, and the 800 has always been my favorite event. It’s a nice little sweet spot between 400 and 1,500. I would love that. Distance is … it’s grueling at times. It’s not fun. But once you get into that groove, it’s great. It’s another feeling. I love it.”

Since making the world championships team, Knott has been training in the pool while also continuing to prepare for her career by shadowing at a pediatric physical therapy practice. An exercise physiology major, Knott plans to one day be a physical therapist herself.

“I’ve done PT all my life, and I always thought it was really interesting and cool that they’re able to do so many things and magically fix the body, in a way,” said Knott, who was born with congenital femoral deficiency and has a shorter right leg and fused right ankle. “(I’m shadowing at) a pediatric place so it’s a lot of little kids, and helping them learn how to sit up and roll over and grab things. It’s actually where I went when I was a little girl, so it’s a full-circle moment. But then it’s also interesting seeing what different things people are coming in for and how the PTs are helping them. It’s really cool and I’m just trying to take it all in right now.”

Knott will start back to school at the end of August, then leave a month later for Singapore. With the support of her college coach and teammates, who she says push her to her limits and cheer her every step of the way, she hopes to compete in a third Paralympics in Los Angeles in 2028.

“I mean for me (what keeps me motivated) is mostly just the fact that I’m capable of more and I’m not done with the sport,” she said. “I know I still have something to contribute to the sport, and I have also loved seeing it grow so much, and that’s just not something I want to let go of any time soon.”

Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic and Paralympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to USParaSwimming.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.