Woodhall, Blair among roster of 2024 Paralympians with Utah ties

Paris' Arc De Triomphe adorned with the Paralympics symbol. Photo: Augie Roepke

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — While the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics have concluded, the Games are far from over. As the spotlight shifts to the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympics, The State of Sport proudly celebrates the seven athletes set to represent Utah on Team USA.

“The State of Sport has a rich history of producing top-tier athletes across various sports,” said Jeff Robbins, Utah Sports Commission President & CEO in a statement. “Join us in supporting our Utah Paralympians as they showcase our state on the world stage.”

Team Utah will be represented in six of the twenty-two sports featured in Paris. The roster includes Paralympic champion David Blair, three-time Paralympic medalist Hunter Woodhall, and two-time Paralympian and bronze medalist Ali Ibanez. Dennis Connors and Garrett Schoonover will be making their Paralympic debuts, as well as Raelene Elam and Audrey Kim in alternate athlete roles.

“Having been born and raised in Utah adds so much to my experience representing Team USA at the Games. I love Utah so much, and I love the fact that I personally get to bring a little piece of Utah to Team USA!” said David Blair, Rio 2016 gold medalist, in a statement.

Athletes with Utah ties representing Team USA at Paris 2024 Summer Paralympics:

Para Athletics:

David Blair, Rio 2016 Gold | Discus | Davis High School alum; Weber State University Track & Field alum; Eagle Mountain resident

Hunter Woodhall, Rio 2016 Silver & Bronze and Tokyo 2020 Bronze | 100m & 400m | Syracuse High School alum

Para Cycling:

Dennis Connors | University of Utah alum

Wheelchair Basketball:

Ali Ibanez, Tokyo 2020 Bronze | Murray native

Wheelchair Fencing:

Garrett Schoonover | Salt City Swords Fencing Club; Sandy resident

Sitting Volleyball:

Raelene Elam | St. George resident (alternate athlete)

Para Swimming:

Audrey Kim | Olympus High School, Class of ’24 (alternate athlete)

Thirty-eight states are represented on the U.S. roster with California (27), Illinois (14), Texas (12), Pennsylvania (11) and Washington (11) boasting the most athletes. 

Abbas Karimi (swimming) returns for his second Paralympic Games and first as a member and citizen of the United States. Born in Afghanistan, Karimi was a member of the Refugee Paralympic Team at the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.

Paralympic bronze medalist Mohamed Lahna (paratriathlon) who represented his native Morocco at the Paralympic Games Rio 2016, will make his debut as a member of Team USA in Paris after officially racing for the U.S. for the first time in 2021.

The 2024 roster includes equal gender representation with 110 women and 110 men. Of the five guides, there are three men and two women.

There are 16 athletes who self-identify as military, including three active duty who continue to serve in the Army and Marines: shooter Kevin Nguyen, swimmer Elizabeth Marks and fencer Jataya Taylor.

The 2024 team features more than 50% of U.S. Paralympians (110 athletes) who competed collegiately as part of their journey to Team USA. In total, 90 schools from 43 conferences will be represented with one or more Paralympic athletes competing in Paris.

Archer Jordan White is the youngest athlete on Team USA at age 15, while Marco De La Rosa (shooting) is the oldest competing at 52 years old. There are four athletes on the team under 18.

Multi-season athletes Oksana Masters (Para-cycling and Para Nordic skiing), Aaron Pike (Para track and field and Para Nordic skiing) and Kendall Gretsch (paratriathlon and Para Nordic skiing) return to the summer Games just two years after an impressive run at the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 where the women combined for a total of 10 medal wins. Masters cemented her name in history, becoming the most decorated winter Paralympian of all-time.

U.S. Paralympics Track & Field holds the largest sport delegation for the U.S. with a total of 54 athletes named to the team.

Three athletes head to Paris with sixth Paralympic Games appearances already on their resumes – Oksana Masters (Para-cycling), Tatyana McFadden (track and field) and Tahl Leibovitz (table tennis).

There are 45 athletes on the team who self-identify as parents, including 14 mothers and 31 fathers.

February is the most popular birth month with 26 athletes celebrating in the month. 

Sarah Adam is set to become the first woman to represent Team USA in wheelchair rugby at a Paralympic Games.

Four of the five U.S. team sports in Paris earned podium appearances at the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 with the men’s wheelchair basketball and women’s sitting volleyball teams each seeking their third consecutive Paralympic titles. 

Paris marks the first time Team USA House will have a presence at the Paralympic Games. Conveniently located at the historic Palais Brongniart in Paris’ second arrondissement, Team USA House will offer guests unprecedented, once-in-a-lifetime access to celebrate hometown athletes, and the chance to come together to watch the action and toast Team USA wins, while immersing themselves in the Paralympic Games. 

The 2024 roster features an equal split of men and women (110 apiece not including guides) and an impressive group of 141 returning Paralympians, including three six-time Paralympians, four five-time Paralympians, eight four-time Paralympians, 21 three-time Paralympians, 42 two-time Paralympians, 63 one-time Paralympians and 78 athletes making their Paralympic debut.  

The resume of veterans includes 100 medalists who have earned a combined 122 gold medals from over 277 Paralympic podium appearances. Sixty-three athletes have won multiple Paralympic medals with 34 winning multiple Paralympic gold medals.  

Headlining the Paris squad with multiple medals is 29-time Paralympic medalist Jessica Long (swimming) who has secured 16 gold medals over her career and remains the second most decorated U.S. Paralympian of all time. Six-time Paralympian Tatyana McFadden (track and field) enters the Paris Games with a record 20 Paralympic medals with the chance to make history as the most winning American for track and field should she top another podium. Dual sport phenomenon and the most decorated winter Paralympian of all-time Oksana Masters (Para-cycling) has recorded 18 total podium appearances among three sports as she looks to repeat double gold in road cycling. McKenzie Coan (swimming) and Kendall Gretsch (paratriathlon) boast six apiece, while David Wagner (wheelchair tennis) leads all American men with eight Paralympic medals. 

There are three six-time Paralympians on the roster – Masters, McFadden and Tahl Leibovitz (table tennis). The four athletes with five Paralympic Games on their resume include Long, Wagner, Aaron Pike (track and field) and Lora Webster (sitting volleyball). Four-time Paralympians include Eric Bennett (archery), Heather Erickson (sitting volleyball), Jeremy Campbell (track and field), Katie Holloway (sitting volleyball), Natalie Schneider (wheelchair basketball), Rebecca Hart (Para-equestrian), Steve Serio (wheelchair basketball) and Tyler Merren (goalball).  

The 2024 team features more than 50% of U.S. Paralympians (110 athletes) who competed collegiately as part of their journey to Team USA. In total, 90 schools from 43 conferences will have one or more Paralympic athletes competing in Paris. Six teams have at least 50% collegiate participation on their U.S. Paralympic rosters: paratriathlon (58%), powerlifting (50%), rowing (100%), swimming (61%), track & field (71%), wheelchair basketball (92%). College athlete representation on the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Team spans all three NCAA Divisions (I, II and III), as well as junior colleges, NAIA schools and collegiate club programs. 

Additionally, the USOPC and NCAA Office of Inclusion recently  launched a new Para-college sport hub, paracollegesport.com . An online resource dedicated to supporting collegiate sports for adaptive athletes, the one stop shop will serve as a central platform to grow Para sport programs across college campuses nationwide. Targeted at high school student-athletes and college administrators, the website aims to grow the footprint and pipeline of Paralympic sport in the United States. The initiative is derived from the USOPC/NCAA Para-college Inclusion Project launched in 2021 and features a collection of resources including how to start a new on campus adaptive program, where to find existing programs and much more.