Former Husker Petra Luteran runs personal best but just misses medal at Paralympics

Former Nebraska Cornhusker student-athlete Petra Luteran had a great showing in the women’s 400m final on Saturday at the Paris Paralympics but just finished off the podium.

Luteran ran a personal-best time of 57.41 seconds but finished 0.21 seconds behind Brazil’s Maria Clara Augusto da Silva for third place, unfortunately leaving Luteran without a medal.

While falling short by so little obviously stings, it’s still a tremendous accomplishment for Luteran, who represented her home country of Hungary in Paris.

The 27-year-old was a high-jumper at Nebraska from 2017 through 2020 and had a personal best of 6-0' 3/4" (1.85m) in 2018.

However, after she graduated, Luteran suffered severe injuries in an ATV accident that led to the amputation of her left arm below the elbow.

As she recovered from the devastating injury, she also returned to the track and started running, getting better and better, competing in the 400m, 200m, 100m and the long jump.

While Luteran didn’t medal in the 400m, she still has a chance in the 200m and long jump later in these summer games. The long jump is set to begin on Sunday while the 200m is slated for Tuesday.

The Paralympics started this past Wednesday and run through Sept. 8.