NAC and Utah athletes are Paralympic podium participants

DOHA, QATAR - OCTOBER 25: Richard Browne of the United States poses with his gold, Alan Oliveira of Brazil silver and Hunter Woodhall of the United States bronze after the men's 200m T44 final during the Evening Session on Day Four of the IPC Athletics World Championships at Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium on October 25, 2015 in Doha, Qatar. Photo: Francis Nell/International Paralympic Committee

TOKYO, Japan.— The first medal in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games won by a Utahn was won overnight by the Track and Field athlete from Syracuse, UT, Hunter Woodhall in the men’s 400 meters running race. Germany got the gold at 45.85, Nederlands the silver in 47.95, and USA’s Woodhall crossed the line with a time of 48.61 a season’s best peaking when his training dictated, even after a whole extra pandemic year. The 22-year-old attending Syracuse High.

He was born with a fused right ankle and fibular hemimelia in his left leg, which is a shortening or absence of the fibula bone. At age 11 months both of his legs were amputated below the knee placing him in the classification of T62. In the Rio 2016 Games he took home a bronze in this same event and a silver in the 200 meters.

“They said I’d never walk, so I learned to run instead.” he said on social media a few years ago. His social media and his social life have become more involved since then with his girlfriend Tara Davis, a Team USA track and Field athlete who competed in the Tokyo 2020 able-bodied Olympic Games.

He raced the 100 meters earlier in Tokyo to an eighth-place finish.

Along with soccer, basketball and wrestling, Woodhall is a skier not unlike the athletes with disabilities who are skiers with the National Ability Center (NAC) in Park City. Bike in their upcoming MOFO event which is sure to challenge you and shift perspective as you ride some of Park City’s gold-level IMBA trails. The MOFO Mountain Bike Ride is a friendly challenge to pedal to the top of “Puke Hill” in Park City on September 25. Donate to the NAC or register for the MOFO here.

Chris Waddell, Park City resident, NAC athlete, 13 Summer and Winter Paralympic medals winner, Paralympic Hall of Famer, Dalai Lama’s “Unsung Hero of Compassion” and NBC commentator not only commentated the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Opening Ceremony but Woodhall’s two races in Japan’s National Stadium as well.

Muffy Davis, NAC athlete, Utahn, six Summer and Winter Paralympic medal winner, United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) Board Member, International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Governing Board Member, and Legistature of Idaho State Representative is hading out medals to podium athletes in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.