Ones to watch: Utah’s Paralympians in Tokyo 2020

Summer Paralympics one week away in Tokyo 2020. Photo: Flickr

TOKYO, Japan. — The Paralympians who will represent Utah while they represent USA in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games include:

• Alejandra Ibanez – Murray, wheelchair basketball
• David Blair –  Eagle Mountain, track and field
• Hunter Woodhall – Syracuse, track and field
• Marybai Huking – Salt Lake City, goalball
• Shelby Jensen – Salt Lake City, wheelchair fencing

 2020 U.S. Paralympic Team Facts

• Forty-one states and the District of Columbia are represented on the U.S. roster, with California (25), Illinois (12), Arizona (11), Colorado (11), Minnesota (11), New York (11) and Washington (11) leading the way.
   
• The 2020 roster includes 121 women and 113 men. Of the six guides, there are two women and four men.
   
• There are 21 athletes who self-identify as military, including three active duty who continue to serve in the Army: shooters John Joss II and Kevin Nguyen, and swimmer Elizabeth Marks. The Army has the largest representation with 14 athletes, with four having served in the Navy, two in the Marine Corps and one in the Air Force.
   
• Of the 241 U.S. athletes competing in Tokyo, more than 50% (122) has or will compete collegiately at 77 schools. 68 athletes are competing in varsity level athletics. Representation includes NCAA Divisions (I, II and III) and junior colleges. 
   
• Swimmer Keegan Knot and track athlete Ezra Frech are the youngest on the team at age 16, while fencer Terry Hayes will be competing at age 62. There are nine athletes under the age of 18.
   
• Blake Haxton is the only athlete on the U.S. team who will compete in two sports – paracanoe and rowing.
   
• Multi-season athletes Dani Aravich, Kendall Grestch, Oksana Masters and Aaron Pike are simultaneously seeking a spot to compete at the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 in Para Nordic skiing.
   
• Track and field holds the largest sport delegation for Team USA with 62 athletes and two guides.
   
• Six of eight possible U.S. team sports in Tokyo earned podium appearances at the Paralympic Games Rio 2016. Three team sports come to Tokyo as reigning Paralympic champions – women’s wheelchair basketball, men’s wheelchair basketball and women’s sitting volleyball.
   
• Three athletes will make their sixth Paralympic Games appearance in Tokyo – goalball athlete Asya Miller, table tennis athlete Tahl Leibovitz and wheelchair racer Tatyana McFadden. 

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games will be broadcast and streamed on the networks of NBC. The Opening Ceremony is on Tuesday, August 24.