Utah’s Hunter Woodhall strikes gold in Paris Paralympics

Hunter Woodhall of the US celebrates after finishing third during the men’s T62 400m final at Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Sept. 3, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti

Shriners Hospital in Salt Lake City
PARIS — Hunter Woodhall, perhaps the most recognized Utah athlete at the Paris Paralympics, and his wife Tara Davis-Woodhall have both won gold medals for Team USA, creating one of the biggest moments in Paralympic and Olympic history.

Woodhall, from Syracuse, Utah, had his legs amputated at age 11 at Shriners Hospital in Salt Lake City. A live watch party there included a dozen children in wheelchairs and members of the medical team who helped Woodhall.

After winning the 400-meter track and field race with a time of 46.36 seconds in the men’s double lower limb amputee category, Woodhall said in an NBC interview, “This gold is as much mine as yours.” He added, “One of the first things Tara and I planned is to take these gold medals back to share with the Salt Lake City’s Shriners Hospital.”

In his third Paralympics, Woodhall was in the Paris Stadium stands to hug Davis-Woodhall when she won her Olympic gold weeks ago in the women’s long jump. She reciprocated today, supporting her husband despite his recent bout with COVID-19.

Just an hour later, Team USA won the bronze medal in the Universal Relay, which includes two male and two female athletes: one visually impaired, one with a limb difference, one in a wheelchair, and one with cerebral palsy.

Muffy Davis, an International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Advisory Board member and athlete from Park City’s National Ability Center, may have the honor of putting Woodhall’s medal around his neck.

Fellow Utahn Ali Ibanez has reached the gold/silver medal final for women’s wheelchair basketball. The Murray native, in her second Paralympics, already holds a bronze medal from Tokyo. She has a condition that causes profound stiffness in her lower body.

Ibanez’s medal match is scheduled for Sunday against the winner of the second semifinal between defending champions Netherlands and Canada. USA defeated China 50-47 in a close semifinal game.

Dennis Connors, a para climber coach and University of Utah graduate student who suffered a stroke in 2020, finished fifth in the Individual Time Trials. He will compete again in road cycling on Saturday in the Men’s T1-2 category.

Garrett Schoonover, 34, a first-time Paralympian from Sandy, Utah, is competing in men’s fencing. The Salt Lake City resident and Westminster University alumnus lost his leg in a 2017 motorcycle accident. Trained by the Salt Lake City Swords Fencing Club, Schoonover will fence in the round of 16 for the men’s Team event against Brazil on Saturday, competing in all three disciplines: epee, sabre, and foil.