Charlotte triathlete Carson Clough is primed for Paris
July 31, 2024
Five summers ago, Carson Clough lost his right foot in a tragic boating accident. This month, the Charlottean chases a gold medal at the 2024 Paralympic Games.
by Katherine Snow Smith
Five years ago Carson Clough was doing backflips off his surfboard and preparing to open The Giddy Goat Coffee Roasters in Plaza Midwood.
Now, he’s preparing to represent Team USA in the 2024 Paralympics in Paris in the triathlon’s below-the-knee amputee category.
In between then and now, Carson suffered what he refers to as “a bump in the road.” He lost his right foot and severely damaged his left leg in a wake-surfing accident on Lake Norman in August 2019.
“It’s been a pretty fun journey,” says Carson, now 30, who played lacrosse for UNC Chapel Hill. “I definitely wouldn’t have been able to represent the USA in my two-legged life. I definitely wouldn’t have a badass service dog.” He’s referring to Calder, a yellow Labrador retriever named after the American Hockey League’s annual Calder Cup trophy honoring playoff champions.
Throughout the “fun” journey, Carson has become a familiar sight to countless Charlotteans who don’t know him but watched him learn to walk again.
Then run again.
Bike again.
Swim again.
Carson, far left, in his freshman year on the UNC Chapel Hill lacrosse team
Freedom Park became his first training ground for walking when he received a prosthetic leg a month after the accident. He took a walker to the place where he ran and played for two decades without a second thought.
“On day one I did five steps. The second day I did seven,” says Carson, who still works at The Giddy Goat, which he co-founded with longtime family friend Rhyne “Rhyno” Davis.
He learned to swim again at the Levine Center at Queens University and the Dowd YMCA, entering the lanes for the first time since middle school.
In March 2022, Carson competed in his first triathlon and placed fifth in North and South America. Since then, he’s competed across the country and the world while becoming a familiar sight in the Queen City. He bikes 15 to 70 miles at a time, depending on the day, along Charlotte’s greenways or out to Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
Carson following his accident in 2019
“I wear my awesome Giddy Goat bike jersey my general manager Enzo [Pazos] designed. And I rep my little sister’s soccer jersey,” he says. Cannon Clough, 28, just signed with the Carolina Ascent FC after playing professionally in Australia and at UNC Chapel Hill during college.
Nobody expected the accident, of course, but Carson’s resilience isn’t exactly surprising. His mother, Brenda Clough, recounts how a client encouraged her when she was working at Katz Media Group after her son was injured.
“She said, ‘Oh, Brenda. He’s going to be at the Olympics before you know it.’ I chuckled and thought, ‘He’s a kid who would be doing something like that,’” she says. “He’s sassy as heck and has always been positive, even as a toddler.”
An amazing return to normal
Carson largely credits his family for that positive attitude. They are also a big part of the reason he wanted to resume a “normal” life as soon as possible.
“I was in a position where there were a solid amount of people pretty affected more so than myself. I could either help them or not help them. The only way I knew to help them was to show them that it didn’t affect me,” he says. “Do I get grumpy? Absolutely. Do I get pissed? Oh yes. Am I always nice to my brother and sister? No.”
Sports are a longtime family bond between those siblings and his parents. Carson’s father, Barry Clough, played hockey and football for Denison University in Ohio. Brenda Clough was a high-school track star in Roxboro. Cole, 25, excels at surfing.
Young Carson with his father, Barry
The Clough family started surfing together about as soon as the kids could swim. That’s a key reason Carson made the choice to keep his compromised left leg, even though doctors explained he could be better off with two strong prosthetics.
The family hit the Virginia Beach waves together eight months after the accident.
“He took his board and went out in the water and got up,” recounts his mother, who stood on the beach cheering with husband Barry. “Carson got out of the water and walked past us holding his board and kind of looked at us and just kept walking. He doesn’t want all the hoopla.”
Vive la France
Hoopla, however, will be inevitable in Paris.
More than 30 friends and family members are traveling to cheer from the sidelines. Brenda hopes they’ll secure a good view from a bridge she’s pegged as the spot to watch her son compete in the Seine as well as see him along the running and biking courses.
Carson almost didn’t make it to Paris. Since he started competing in triathlons in 2022, he placed first in numerous competitions and earned enough qualifying points to be considered for the 2024 Paralympics. But he suffered tough breaks in the first two of the three sanctioned qualifying competitions, where competitors must place first or second to make it to Paris.
In the 2023 Paris Testament qualifier, he flipped his bike and came in fourth. In September at the World Triathlon Para Championships qualifier, he placed fifth. The Americas Paratriathlon Championships in March in Miami was his last chance. He came in first.
“I knew I was going to get pulled for doping control. My goal was to pee in the cup as fast as I could and go with my family to celebrate,” he says.
After going for a gold medal finish in Paris, he plans to celebrate big with all of his family and friends who have already traveled the world in his support. It will be a time of pride for the Cloughs and all Charlotteans who cheered Carson along, never knowing him or his story. SP
Clough competes over Labor Day weekend in Paris. To see the schedule, click here.
Featured image courtesy World Triathlon; all other images courtesy Carson Clough
