We’re just a few days away from the start of the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympics, and we have one more member of Team TKFLASTAN to introduce to you! Daniel Romanchuk is a two-time Paralympic medalist in wheelchair racing, both on the track and on the road.
Racing since he was four years old, Daniel came onto the Paralympic stage at Rio 2016, where he competed in the Men’s T54 class in the 100m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, and 5000m. At Tokyo 2020, he won the gold medal in the men’s 400 meters T54 event and the bronze medal in the men’s marathon T54 event, and placed 4th in the 5000m and 5th in the 1500m.
We spoke with Daniel before the Team USA Para Track and Field Trials about the technical aspects of wheelchair racing, as well as being part of Team Xfinity. He made Team USA for a third time, and at Paris he’ll be competing in the 100m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5k and marathon at the Paralympics.
We’re excited to watch Daniel compete at Paris 2024 and hope you’ll follow along with our daily podcasts!
Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!
TRANSCRIPT
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358-Daniel Romanchuk on Wheelchair Racing
Jill: Hello and welcome to another episode of Keep the Flame Alive, the podcast for fans of the Olympics and Paralympics. If you love the Games, we are the show for you. Each week, we share stories from athletes and people behind the scenes to help you have more fun watching the Games. I’m your host, Jill Jaracz, joined as always by my lovely co host, Alison Brown.
Alison, hello, how are you? You look stunned, like you haven’t seen me in weeks. I know. I haven’t seen you in hours. Has it been that long? No, we are here at the main press center at Paris 2024. The Olympics is wrapping up. So we are taping a in between show just to have on hand because we still have some tape
Alison: from before we came here.
I know we were so lucky to have so many athletes that we met at the Team USA Summit come back. And then once we got in that churn, then people started reaching out to us and we, you know, You never want to say no. Right. Because we want to talk to all these people. Right. And one of them was on your list.
One of them is on my list. Daniel Romanchuk has been on my list since that race in Tokyo between him and Marcel Hugues. Right. So I did get to ask him about
Jill: that. So yes, we got to talk with Daniel for a little while. Daniel Romanchuk is headed to his third race. Paralympics here in Paris. In Tokyo, he won bronze in the marathon.
He’s in the T54 class and gold in the 400 meters, which is a wheelchair class. And we spoke to him prior to the Paralympic trials, but after he had qualified for the marathon, take a listen to our conversation.
Alison: I am so excited to get to talk to you. And I want to start with talking a little bit about, you do short distance, mid distance, long distance, you do a little bit of everything.
And how does that work? You know, how are you able to train for the different things? And how does that, when you go to approach a multi event race?
Daniel Romanchuk: Yeah, We, we train for kind of, to some degree, for, for specific skills, uh, and which transfer over to, uh, to various events.
Uh, and so, you know, every event has a start and, you know, accelerations and things like that. So, you know, a lot of the skills kind of transfer over, uh, you know, from, from one distance to another.
Jill: When you got into the sport, was that a surprise to you?
Daniel Romanchuk: I think kind of, but I’m not sure I really, really thought about it much.
Jill: Was it more like, Oh, I can do this distance now too, right?
Daniel Romanchuk: Yeah, I got started in wheelchair racing when I was four years old. Uh, and so, at that point it’s, uh, it’s just having fun. And so, um. Yeah, and starting with the, with the shorter events, I think that the 60 and the 100 meter, and then kind of just gradually increasing, uh, increasing distance as we kind of, we felt appropriate So, uh, that’s kind of, how things progressed.
Alison: How many racing chairs do you have?
Daniel Romanchuk: I pretty much, I have, uh, one primary racing chair, but I usually have, uh, one or so kind of backup, uh, just in case something happens. And, uh, yeah, I need to, to go into a backup set of equipment while I work on Getting another set, so I don’t have to spend any time, you know, completely out of competition.
Alison: Do you have to do special adjustments for short distance versus long distance and track versus road?
Daniel Romanchuk: I think there, there are a couple things, uh, so that some, some people change. I personally really haven’t changed much about my setup, depending on what I’m doing. , I’ve occasionally changed a thing or two.
, but for the most part, I just, I keep everything, uh, everything the same.
Alison: in the marathon in Paris. How do you prepare for that? And do you do set up in terms of anything to the chair for that?
Daniel Romanchuk: I live up in, uh, in Champaign, Illinois. And so, uh, I’m, I’m used to, well, we get out onto the roads, uh, after winter, I’m, I’m used to things being a little rough sometimes. yeah. I’m kind of used to that, but I also have, I’ve been using some, uh, tubeless tires as well, and so that can kind of help dampen, some of the vibrations from all of the cobblestones.
Jill: Okay, I have two things. Have you ever gotten stuck in a pothole?
Daniel Romanchuk: I, certainly have hit a number of potholes, yes.
Is
Jill: there a difference in feeling on the surface between track and the road and how the tires grip it?
Daniel Romanchuk: not so much with, uh, necessarily how they grip. , but it, there certainly, uh, certainly is a difference between the track and the road. as far as usually, uh, the uniformity of the surface and, uh, you know, tracks are usually quite smooth.
There’s no, you know, no bumps or anything like that. Thanks. and, it’s flat, it’s not, uh, you know, it’s not banked or anything like that, uh, on the turns. whereas road, you, you don’t know what to expect sometimes, uh, it’s sometimes, you know, smooth, it can be rough, you know, there can be kind of banking, uh, to the, some of the, the turns, or even on the straightaways, uh, sometimes, you know, the, the road is crowned, um, And so, yeah, it’s certainly, uh, two very, uh, very different, uh, experiences sometimes.
Alison: What else do you know about what to expect on the Paris course specifically? It’s been published, we know it’s through the city, but what sort of strange things that caught your eye on it?
Daniel Romanchuk: it’s certainly a, a technical course, uh, you know, lots of turns and things like that, with the cobblestones and, various things.
It certainly is, uh, very unique course. Uh, you know, I do a lot of the, uh, the Abbott World Marathon majors where, you know, there it’s the same, same marathons every year. And, you know, usually it’s the same courses. And so, you know, we kind of really get to know the, the course, you know, and this is certainly, uh, certainly gonna be a, you know, a new experience. but, uh. I think there are a few things that kind of set it, set it apart. How
Alison: do you pace yourself in an event like the Paralympics where you’ve got the marathons at the very end? And then I know we have qualifications coming up, but if you do those shorter races leading up to that?
Daniel Romanchuk: Yeah. and really it’s, it’s just concentrating on. recovery and, uh, trying to just, make everything go as smoothly as possible. Uh, you kind of try, I kind of try and plan, plan my day out. know, knowing when I’m going to go get food and when transportation times are and things like that, , really just trying to plan out my day as, uh, as much as possible.
There’s no way to plan for everything that can but, it really.
It’s kind of a hard question to answer, I think.
Alison: Okay, what I really want to ask is, I want to ask about the rivalry with Marcel Hugh. Because I loved watching the two of you race against each other in Tokyo. And looks like we’re going to see it again in Paris.
And just, just talk about how that pushes you and how that, or, or irritates you if it does.
Daniel Romanchuk: Yeah, I think, you know, it’s at a games like the Paralympic or at a, at a competition like the Paralympics, you’re, you know, you’re going to see, you know, all of the, uh, all of the top level racers there. Uh, and you know, it’s gonna, probably be a lot of, good competitions.
And, yeah, I looking, looking forward to, uh, to racing with everyone. Thanks everyone.
Jill: So we know that funding for athletes in general is tough in the U. S. Funding for Paralympians is tougher, but you are part of Team Xfinity. So how did that come about and how does that alleviate some of the stress that might come with trying to support your racing career?
Daniel Romanchuk:
I think, you know, one of the really cool things, uh, one of the really great, great things that, uh, Comcast uh, is doing, you know, is, uh, is supporting all of the, uh, the Team USA athletes with, connection credits to help them stay in contact with, their, friends and family, uh, wherever they are, where, whether they’re, you know, in the, in the U. S. or, uh, maybe they’re in, you know, in the games with them in, uh, in Paris. and so, that’s a really, really important thing for a lot of athletes is, you know, to staying in contact with, friends and family. I know I tried to, uh, you know, keep, a daily communication, with my mom.
Uh, so she was kind of my, my point of contact, back in, in the U S in Tokyo, during Tokyo. this time, uh, of my family will be, uh, all in Paris. Uh, and so that’ll be, be great to have them there. Uh, but yeah, it’s really, really great to, to really be able to, to easily, Uh, and quickly stay, uh, stay in contact with, all of our, our, all of our loved ones.
Alison: What does, uh, life training look like between now and when you arrive in Paris?
Daniel Romanchuk: uh, training is typically basically, uh, one to two sessions a day, six days a week. Uh, each session maybe is about an hour, hour and a half or so long. so, uh, we’ll be going, we’ll be doing, uh, track things.
We’ll also go out on the road. Um, we do a little bit of, uh, of weight training, but not too much. Uh, our sport is very, uh, technique based. Uh, and so, uh, we don’t want to, have, uh, have too much muscle that it, that interferes with our flexibility. but, uh, as far as the kind of the, the general schedule, I’ve got, uh, trials coming up in a couple of days here, down in Florida.
And so, that’s basically to, uh, to get all of the track events that I’ll be doing. and, get start rights for those. and, uh, right after trials, after I get back, back home, I actually will, uh, will be, getting married before I head off to, uh, to Paris.
Alison: I saw that on your Instagram and I said, oh, before we have to get off, I have to say congratulations.
That was very exciting. Thank you. So you’ve decided to throw a wedding into this summer. Yup. Yup.
Daniel Romanchuk: Yup.
Alison: Daniel, what is wrong with you?
But I do sort of mean that seriously, like that’s a big life step and the Paralympics is a big professional step and putting that together. Is that helpful in that it keeps each one not too focused on the other?
Daniel Romanchuk: I think so a little bit. Yes. It certainly is, is, uh, everything is quite, uh, quite busy right now, uh, between, yep, all, all of the, the planning and getting ready for trials and, stuff like that, but, it’s certainly just a, a very exciting time.
Jill: Well, that’s awesome. A, it’s awesome, because it’s so exciting for you to get married. B, we will see you in Paris and we will ask you how that went. More
Alison: importantly, we’ll ask
Jill: your wife.
Daniel Romanchuk: be there.
Jill: I know this doesn’t fit in, but I have a question of How do you do turns in the racing chair on the track versus on the road? What kind of like physical movements do you have to make with your with your hands and and steering the the wheelchair to? Make the turn as efficient as possible.
Daniel Romanchuk: Yeah Basically, there’s a a piece of the chair called the compensator Or, a lot of us call it the compensator, uh, some people say, call it the track control. Uh, which basically it’s a little piece kind of along our main beam, along the main beam of the chair, that will, will hit on the left to turn left, and then hit it on the right when we want to go straight.
Uh, and so the, the chair has kind of a spring that, uh, will keep it going where whichever direction we have at the moment. And so, it’s not like a typical bike where if you let go of the steering, it’s going to go off, some way or another. and so, all we have to do is, uh, you know, make, make sure we hit the compensator at the right time and go back to pushing.
Jill: And does that work on the road too? Sorry, same deal for the road.
Daniel Romanchuk: Similar deal. So, for certain turns, uh, we could kind of tap the, uh, tap the compensator and, uh, that will, kind of free our hands up. So we don’t have to manually turn. you know, we do have a manual steering, uh, as well.
but, yeah, for, for some of the, you know, the, the lighter turns, we could sometimes, you know, use our compensator. to free our hands up to push, while doing that. But a lot of the, it’s going to be a very technical, uh, course, so I’m not sure how much, we’ll be able to do that on the marathon course in Paris.
Alison: When you say a technical course, what does that, and you’re talking about, it’s a very technical sport. What does that actually mean physically what you’re doing versus just brute strength?
Daniel Romanchuk: Yeah. So, um, technical course, uh, sometimes we’ll keep a group together, on a more long straightaway courses, things like that.
Uh, it can. Be a little bit more, just physical fitness and, it can break apart the, uh, the group a little bit more. Uh, there’s a lot of opportunity to do that. Uh, but when you have a more technical course, it kind of keeps, uh, usually it kind of keeps the, the group together a little bit more just cause there’s no, there’s not much time I’ll say to, uh, to, you know, try and accelerate and break away from a group.
A lot of the time is spent turning.
Jill: Well, that will mean, it could mean a very exciting finish.
Daniel Romanchuk: Could be. Yep.
Alison: You also said the importance of flexibility for marathon. How does that play into it?
Daniel Romanchuk: one of my kind of pre race routines is to, uh, try and preview the course and kind of, you know, I, I know typically the, the field that’s going to be there and usually how, how most people like to race.
And so I’ll kind of try and, you know, try and think through what might happen at certain points during the course. And, that’ll certainly, I think, uh, certainly play into things here. but. not really being able to do that, but I think also, one thing that I’ve learned over the years of racing is you can make a plan as, you know, as detailed as you want.
But as soon as that gun goes off, it’s probably gone, you know, going out the window. So, uh, you know, a lot of it is just adapting and just, saying, okay, you know, this is the current situation. You know, always having the same goal of, you know, hopefully meddling, you know, always having that goal and just trying to figure out how, now that we’re here, how are, how am I going to make that try and, you know, how am I going to try and make that happen?
Alison: This will be number three for you. So how has wheelchair marathon changed over this, this spread of time for you and for you and for the sport itself?
Daniel Romanchuk: Yeah. so, uh, at my first games in, in Rio, I, uh, didn’t qualify for the, for the marathon. So I only did the, the, the track events. But it is really been exciting to watch the, the coverage expand over the years.
from going from, you know, you know, specials and things like that to now, you know, I think, 1500 hours of, uh, of coverage is just amazing. Uh, and so I think, you know, that really helps increase the, the visibility of the sport. And, really, I, I know what sports has, has done for me and, to think, you know, what 1500 hours of coverage could do as far as, you know, getting, getting the word out that, all the different sports exist.
it’s just amazing to think about.
Jill: Excellent. Daniel, thank you so much for taking a little bit of time for us ahead of the, the track and field trials. We really appreciate it.
Daniel Romanchuk: Well, thank you for having me.
Jill: Thank you so much, Daniel. Daniel will be competing in the 100 meter, 400 meter, 800 meter, 1500 meter, 5k in marathon at the Paralympics.
Alison: Does he get to stop? Basically, if you see a man in a wheelchair, he’s in that race.
He’s amazing. Very, very talented. And I think by now, he’s married. Oh, that’s right. He was getting married right before the Paralympics, which we went, is that a good idea? Yep. Well, keep an eye out for those photos. Uh, you can follow Daniel on Instagram at Daniel dot Romanchuk and on X at Romanchuk Daniel. All right.
Jill: So the opening ceremony for the Paralympics is on Wednesday, August 28th. Yes.
So we will be coming to you then with more daily episodes throughout the Paralympics. So excited to see these. The Olympics have been great. I’m looking forward to what the Paralympics bring us because we’ve never seen these sports in person at all. No. Not at all. So. Well, I think the question on everybody’s mind will be, can I peel you away from the wheelchair rugby arena?
Alison: Well, the first day, I think the matchups are USA Canada and Australia GB. Oh my gosh. So the answer is no. I see. I see. Well, let’s just make, let’s just establish that there will be a lot of wheelchair rugby coverage on our daily episodes. Just set that baseline. We should just plan to tape there at the end of the night, right?
We might, but no, I think, cause I don’t want to scare Chuck Aoki. I’m already going to scare Chuck Aoki. I’m not going to go in the mix zone at first. I’ll take it slow. But then he’s in trouble.
Jill: I say, well, that’s, that’s good. I’m so excited. Um, but yeah, we hope you are excited as well. Let us know what you’re looking forward to it with the
Alison: Paralympics.
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Jill: On Wednesday, we will start our daily coverage from the Paris 2024 Paralympics. Please do not forget to tell a friend about the show. Get your copy of our Olympics and Paralympics viewing guide if you haven’t done so already, that will help keep you on a schedule if you’re getting merch to wear, please get it now.
And, um, it might be there before you leave or for when you’re sitting on the couch. and look forward to daily episodes. I don’t know if toilet time will come back. We’ve been to most of the toilets. This is true. We’ve experienced them all. But not Versailles. Not Versailles. The toilets are coming. So, we have more fun in store for you in the Paralympics.
We don’t know what that is. That will unveil itself to us at the time. So look forward to that, and thank you so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive.