Sydney Barta (born February 16, 2004) is an American

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

. An

amputee Amputation is the removal of a limb or other body part by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is ...

, she became the first Paralympian to compete for Stanford University, running the 200 meter race on April 25, 2025 at the Payton Jordan Invitational. Barta won Gold in the 200m at the Parapan American Games in Santiago Chile in November 2023, and Silver at the World Championships in Kobe, Japan the following May. She also competed in the 100 meter and 200 meter races in the

2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the Inte ...

. Barta competes in the T64 classification. In 2019, she was awarded US Paralympics Track and Field Female High School Athlete of the Year.

Career

Barta grew up in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

, and attended the National Cathedral School in Washington, DC, where she competed in varsity basketball, volleyball and track. She was inducted into the Cum Laude Society, and was recognized as a National Merit Semi-finalist as a senior. Her mother, Laura, played basketball for

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. When Barta was six years, she was finishing a fun run when metal scaffolding fell onto her, shattering her left ankle. She spent the next months in hospital and, while being treated for her injury, she developed

compartment syndrome Compartment syndrome is a serious medical condition in which increased pressure within a Fascial compartment, body compartment compromises blood flow and tissue function, potentially leading to permanent damage if not promptly treated. There are ...

. Her wound became infected leading to a portion of her left leg being removed over the course of 21 surgeries. She was eight years old when she competed in her first

fixture in

Fort Wayne Fort Wayne is a city in Allen County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 at the 2020 United S ...

. Barta competed in seven events and swam the 200m

freestyle swimming Freestyle is a category of Swimming (sport), swimming competition, defined by the rules of World Aquatics, in which competitors are subject to only a few limited restrictions on their swimming stroke. Freestyle races are the most common of all ...

over the course of two days. At the event, Barta met the head of the

Challenged Athletes Foundation The Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF), established in 1997, assists, supports, and provides opportunity to people with physical challenges, so that they can lead active lifestyles and compete in athletic events. It is founded in the belief th ...

which resulted in the organization donating an improved running blade to her. Barta won gold in the 100, 200 and 400 meters at the 2019

World Para Athletics Junior Championships The World Para Athletics Junior Championships are a biennial Paralympic athletics event organized by World Para Athletics, a subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). It features athletics events contested by athletes with phy ...

in Switzerland and her performance in this championship landed her a place in the

Parapan American Games The Parapan American Games is an international multi-sport event for athletes with physical disabilities held every four years after every Pan American Games. The first Games were held in 1999 in Mexico City, Mexico. The 2003 Parapan American Ga ...

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

, Peru, where she won gold in the 200 meters. Barta competed in the

World Para Athletics Championships The World Para Athletics Championships, known as the IPC Athletics World Championships prior to 2017, are a biennial Paralympic athletics event organized by World Para Athletics, a subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). It ...

in 2019 where she entered three events finishing 7th in the shot put T64, 4th in the 200 metres T64 and 9th in the discus throw T64. In the

2020 Paralympic Games The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the Inte ...

, Barta qualified for the 200 metres final where she narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing 4th behind

Kimberly Alkemade Kimberly Alkemade (born 29 March 1990) is a Dutch Paralympic athlete. Career Alkemade lost her left lower leg in a bus accident in 1998 near Montelimar, France, and started in Para athletics. The 2019 World Para Athletics Championships was h ...

of the Netherlands.

Education

Barta is a rising senior at Stanford University where she majors in Bioengineering, while competing on the Stanford Track team and internationally for TeamUSA. In the fall of 2024, she was elected to the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society, which requires top 10% grades among all engineers at the University. In the spring of 2025, she was elected by TeamUSA track athletes to serve a four-year term on the Collegiate Advisory Council of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC). Barta is an Undergraduate Research Assistant in the Human Performance Lab at Stanford, contributing to the StaBLE project, which uses smartphone image capture to analyze gait and balance among a cohort of 200 participants. Barta was a Wu Tsai Fellow in the summer of 2023 and has been awarded a BioX fellowship to continue this research in the summer of 2025. Barta is a high school graduate of The National Cathedral School in Washington, D.C.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barta, Sydney 2004 births Living people American amputees Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Paralympic track and field athletes for the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 2023 Parapan American Games Medalists at the 2023 Parapan American Games Medalists at the World Para Athletics Championships 21st-century American sportswomen American female sprinters Sportspeople from Arlington County, Virginia Parapan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Parapan American Games gold medalists for the United States