Overcoming darkness: Richmonder Antoine Craig’s journey to Paralympic success

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Richmond local Antoine Craig began losing his vision in 2010, during his late twenties. Since then, he has taken up T11 Paralympic sprinting and is competing in Florida at the 2024 Paralympic Trails.

“You’re always worried about losing it, you’re afraid of the dark, you’re worried, but once I finally lost it, it was the most refreshing thing ever, because now, I could focus on doing what I wanted to do and focus on other things instead of dreading losing my vision,” Antoine Craig said about losing his eyesight.

For most people, it would be devastating, but not for Antoine Craig. He was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa and started losing his sight at 29 years old, completely losing his vision in 2019, but he’s never let it get him down.

“My impression is, for someone that is visually impaired, who has taken on the challenges that he has and done as well as he in them, it speaks volumes,” Joe Mack, Antoine’s coach, said. “It’s heads and shoulders above the average person that feels they have obstacles in life and have hurdles—some of them have no idea what it’s like having to do the same thing and they cannot see.”

Joe Mack got connected with Antoine a few years ago, teaching him the basics of T11 Paralympic sprinting—from running with a guide to the mechanics of learning to sprint at the Olympic level.

“I had to race the fastest dude in the world at my very first track meet, and that was disheartening,” Antoine said. “But [Mack] talked to me after that, and it really motivated me to stay out there and stick with it.”

Since then, Antoine has found a lot of success, competing at the Parapan American Games in 2019 and 2023. Now, he has his sights set on the Paralympic trials in Florida this Friday, with dreams of punching his ticket to Paris.

“Just go out there, treat it like practice, you did all the reps, we did all the things we know, everything we need to get done. We just go out there and have fun,” Antoine said about his mentality going into Paralympic trials.

This time around, Antoine thinks he’s got a secret weapon, and he’s connected with him at the wrist.

“We did a practice and we immediately clicked,” Jason Ward, Antoine’s guide runner, said recalling his first time running with Antoine. “He told me it takes a while to sync up and run together and not mess each other up, but first practice, we got it—the height thing, the speed thing, everything came together.”

Antoine and Jason will run this Friday and Saturday with hopes to qualify for Paris.

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