Karen Price Freelance

Karen Price Freelance I'm a longtime newspaper reporter turned freelance writer in Pittsburgh, Pa.

In 2018, Katie Kubiak walked across the pool deck for what she thought was the final swim meet of her career. She was on...
02/18/2025

In 2018, Katie Kubiak walked across the pool deck for what she thought was the final swim meet of her career. She was only a freshman in high school, but her disease was progressing, spinal surgery loomed, and she didn't see how she'd continue with the sport she loved. This past December, she wheeled across that same pool deck for her first U.S. Para Swimming National Championships. After winning an astounding five national titles, Kubiak is one to watch for the 2028 Paralympics in Los Angeles.

Katie Kubiak walked across the pool deck at the Rosen Aquatic & Fitness Center in Orlando for what she thought was her final meet ever.She didn’t want her swimming career to be over.She was only a freshman in high school. She wanted to keep swimmin...

“Some of my short-term goals would be to continue to accomplish the times I’m getting and push myself in every meet that...
02/08/2025

“Some of my short-term goals would be to continue to accomplish the times I’m getting and push myself in every meet that I go to, but I would definitely say that one of my goals for the future would be to be the first person to swim in the Paralympics and also the able-bodied Olympics. And I would also say to swim at a Division I college.”

Absolutely enjoyed talking to this young man, now one of the newest members of the U.S. National Paralympic team. Chase your dreams, Koehn!

As the top U.S. athletes competed for their chance to make the 2024 Paralympic swim team this past summer at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center on the University of Minnesota campus, Koehn Boyd served as a volunteer runner.His job was to collect the pr...

In a matter of days, Yale swimmer Ali Truwit ran a marathon, graduated from college, traveled to Turks & Caicos to celeb...
04/26/2024

In a matter of days, Yale swimmer Ali Truwit ran a marathon, graduated from college, traveled to Turks & Caicos to celebrate, and lost her foot in a shark attack while snorkeling. She's now training to make the Paralympic team and compete in Paris this summer.
“Of course it’s really easy to sit and think, ‘Why did this happen to me?’ and be upset, and I’m working hard to focus on how I can make meaning of it and move forward, and this feels like a great way to do that,” she said.
Read about this extraordinary young woman below.

Ali Truwit always felt at home in the water.Even when she and her brothers were little and the boys hid in the locker room when it was time for swim lessons, she couldn’t wait to get in the pool. Then she never wanted to leave. She tried other sports a...

At 17, Olympic skateboarding hopeful Minna Stess may still find it crazy that people look up to her and want to hear wha...
04/03/2024

At 17, Olympic skateboarding hopeful Minna Stess may still find it crazy that people look up to her and want to hear what she has to say, but she should probably get used to it.

“There are so many more girls at skate parks,” she said. “There used to literally be none. I’d be the only girl there. Everything was fine, but there were just no girls. Now there are girls everywhere, which I think the Olympics helped with. Literally there are children in different countries now doing tricks I never would have thought a girl would be doing, or anyone would be doing.”

Stess could take the next step toward Paris qualification at this weekend’s WST event in Dubai.

I first met Ahalya three years ago as she was prepping for her first Paralympic Games. She's a brilliant, driven woman w...
03/05/2024

I first met Ahalya three years ago as she was prepping for her first Paralympic Games. She's a brilliant, driven woman who's got some fascinating things ahead of her!

Eight years before Ahalya Lettenberger competed in her first Paralympic Games, she stepped onto the pool deck for a Para swim meet for the very first time.She looked around and saw other athletes with disabilities, athletes who were members of Team USA...

My other story on Chloe, this one for US Paralympic Swimming's website.
01/19/2024

My other story on Chloe, this one for US Paralympic Swimming's website.

There’s a phrase that one of Chloe Cederholm’s coaches likes to use: Find a way.It’s simple and direct, and it’s a motto the 13-year-old swimmer plans to use as she chases her Paralympic dream over these next few months.“I really want to go to Paris th...

Chloe has this unique mix of seeing the world through a young kid's eyes, with all that eagerness, excitement and optimi...
01/19/2024

Chloe has this unique mix of seeing the world through a young kid's eyes, with all that eagerness, excitement and optimism, but understanding it with this depth of wisdom and courage that many people decades older can't match. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation, and appreciated her taking the time to do it in between prelims and finals at the national championships last month. It was such a great talk that I also wrote a story for US Paralympic Swimming's website and will post that one as well. Suffice it to say I'm a big fan of this kid now and will be rooting for her along her journey.

The 13-year-old from Salt Lake City won a pair of medals last November at the Parapan American Games Santiago 2023.

Speed climbing is so much different from bouldering or lead climbing in that everyone on the world trains on the exact s...
09/13/2023

Speed climbing is so much different from bouldering or lead climbing in that everyone on the world trains on the exact same route over and over. It never changes. But one of the things Emma Hunt loves about it is the amount of fine-tuning it takes to see drops in time and compete among the best in the world.

“Like I need my foot on this exact tip or I need my hips to turn this position on this move before I get to this hold,” Hunt said. “The details are so microscopic it’s hard to do it all at once, so training is mostly just trying to learn how to do all the little details consistently.”

My story for Team USA:

A world championships silver medal made Hunt the first American to qualify for an Olympic Games as a speed climber.

Whenever I feel like I'm staying busy and juggling a lot, I talk to Jamal and come away wondering what I'm actually acco...
06/01/2023

Whenever I feel like I'm staying busy and juggling a lot, I talk to Jamal and come away wondering what I'm actually accomplishing with my life 😆

Jamal Hill likes to joke that the first thing that used to come to mind when someone mentioned the United Nations was Austin Powers. 

Life as a Para-cycling power couple means a lot of different things for Clara Brown and Noah Middlestaedt. Each can full...
04/27/2023

Life as a Para-cycling power couple means a lot of different things for Clara Brown and Noah Middlestaedt. Each can fully understand and empathize with what the other’s going through, good or bad, in ways that people who aren’t elite athletes can’t. One can geek out over a new piece of gear and the other will know exactly what they’re talking about.
But some days it also means that there’s not a whole lot of sympathy after a long day’s work.
“It’s funny, sometimes we’ll both come home crushed from a ride and I’ll be like, ‘I don’t want to make dinner,’ and he’ll be like, ‘Well, I don’t either. I had a hard day, too!” said Brown, of Falmouth, Maine.
They looked at each other, smiling.
“(She’s like)’Oh, I’m so tired,’” Middlestaedt, a Minnesota native, said. “Yeah. We’re both doing it.”

These two were so fun to talk to. Another of my latest for TeamUSA.org.

Noah Middlestaedt and Clara Brown pose for a picture at the 2022 UCI Para-cycling World Championships on Aug. 14, 2022 in Baie-Comeau, Canada.

Handcyclist Kate Brim isn’t really into setting long-term goals for her athletic career. So much changed so quickly in h...
04/27/2023

Handcyclist Kate Brim isn’t really into setting long-term goals for her athletic career. So much changed so quickly in her world — on more than one occasion — that she’s learned to live in the moment, and it’s worked out quite well for her so far. Her biggest priority instead is to go into each race with a “learner’s cap.” It’s something she mentions with regularity, and it has also served the two-time world champion well to this point.

One of my latest for TeamUSA.org.

Kate Brim competes during the women's time trial H2 at the 2022 UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships on Aug. 11, 2022 in Baie-Comeau, Quebec.

Wow, it has been a long time since I posted anything on this page. Here's one I really wanted to share, however, because...
04/13/2023

Wow, it has been a long time since I posted anything on this page. Here's one I really wanted to share, however, because these two were just a complete delight to talk to and have such a great story. He's 95, she'll be 90 in the fall, and not only are they avid pickleball players but also passionate about sharing the sport with others and teaching them how to play. They sent me the nicest note this morning thanking me for the story and said if I'm ever in San Diego, I should come and see them. This was my third story for USA Pickleball in the last few weeks, and I'm really enjoying meeting some of the people involved in this insanely popular sport (that I guess I'm going to have to try now!).

By Karen PriceRed Line Editorial

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