Utah Paralympian qualifies in track in Tokyo

Paralympic 100 meter race. Photo: Johnnie Peacock

TOKYO, Japan. — Hunter Woodhall, third of three qualifiers out of the seven on the track in Tokyo, advances with a coveted spot to compete in the finals for the men’s 100-meter race competing as a T62 classification against some T64s in the heat.

Athletes with disabilities like the double amputee, Woodhall, who uses the aid of prosthetics, reap the benefits of the global game-changer,  Ottobock, a company whose name is solidly within the lexicon and diaspora of people with disabilities.

At every Paralympics, Ottobock, a European-based business sets up shop and turns a wrench and always customizing, fabricating, evolving, re-imagining, engineering, and inventing on the fly for each nation, each athlete, each coach, each official, and each volunteer who could use a world-class tune-up on their adaptive equipment. Certainly, they show up for the athleticism of the moment but just as much to improve the quality of daily life after the participants return to their corners of the world for the four years in between Paralympic Games.

Woodhall, 22, came across the finish line with an 11.17 second time. Sneaking in as one of only the top three that qualify, he was the only one of those to not put down a personal best (PB) in this race.

Tokyo is his second consecutive Paralympic Games as he has a silver and a bronze from Rio 2016. He earned medals while competing in the 200-meters, as well.