How Park City became the heartbeat of U.S. Paralympic sport heading into Cortina

Cortina's Countdown Clock until the Paralympics Opening Ceremony. Photo: TownLift // Michele Roepke

CORTINA, Italy — Over the weekend in Cortina, international Paralympic athletes, European Ottobock bio-mechanical-assistance employees, and an administrative group representing the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee arrived for the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games. 

Team USA will have a large contingency of people with Park City connections at the Milan Cortina Paralympic Games, including five-time Paralympic gold medalist Chris Waddell, who will once again be co-hosting the NBC broadcasts.

With organizations like the National Ability Center, the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team, U.S. Biathlon, and Sisters in Sports headquartered in Park City, the community has become a nationally recognized hub for adaptive sport, where athletes of all abilities can train and compete, like hometown skier Sailor O’Brien.

“Born with Spina Bifida and raised by athlete parents, it was only natural for her to find her way into sports,” writes the U.S. Ski Team about O’Brien. “She discovered her passion for skiing at the age of four. A member of the Stifel U.S. Para Alpine Ski Team since 2022, she’s trained with the National Ability Center’s High-Performance Alpine Team since 2017. A 2020 graduate of Picabo Street Academy, O’Brien is also a proud Sisters in Sports mentor, helping empower and connect the next generation of women athletes. During the 2024-25 season, she celebrated several career milestones: winning her first World Cup in downhill, earning three additional World Cup podiums, being crowned U.S. National Champion, and receiving the honor of U.S. Ski & Snowboard Adaptive Athlete of the Year.”

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Oksana Masters, who works with Sisters in Sports, is the most decorated U.S. Winter Paralympian in history, and will be again competing, with 14 medals in Para Nordic skiing, cross-country and biathlon, and 19 total medals across Summer and Winter Games. A multi-sport athlete born in Ukraine, she has competed in every Paralympics since 2012. 

The U.S. Paralympic Alpine Team will also include sitting athlete Hailey Griffin from the National Ability Center.

For the men, in the standing alpine ski races are Noah Bury from Salt Lake City who attends Weber State University, Andrew Haraghey from the National Ability Center who attends Westminster University and is a three-time Paralympian, Tyler McKenzie from the National Ability Center, and Michael O’Hearn from the National Ability Center who attends Westminster University.

The men in the sitting alpine ski races are two-time Paralympian Matthew Brewer from National Ability Center, Blake Eaton from the National Ability Center, Robert Enigl who trains with the National Ability Center and is a two-time Paralympian.

Three women from Team Utah Snowboarding will compete in the Paralympics: Brenna Huckaby, a three-time Paralympian; Kate Delson; and Jackie Hamwey.

East Coast alpine Paralympic skier Laurie Stephens will compete in her sixth Games after first attending the Salt Lake 2002 Paralympics as a spectator teenager.

West Coast’s Ravi Drugan will ski in Cortina after training extensively with the National Ability Center.

Keith Gabel of Ogden will be competing; he’s been the subject of an ongoing exhibit at the Utah Olympic Park’s Alf Engen Museum.

National Ability Center Elite Competition Programs are made possible by donations from the the Unger Family.

Kendal Gretch who has worked with Sisters in Sports, is a triathlete, biathlete, and cross-country skier who’ll be a Paralympian in Italy. She has competed in both Summer Paralympics and Winter Paralympics and has won gold medals at both competitions.

Not unlike Olympic Nordic Combined, which is the only sport without women’s events, Paralympic Sled Hockey shares the same status.

Para bobsled, skeleton, and luge community members continue to strive for inclusion in the Paralympic Programme, even after recent years have seen a World Cup circuit. The events got their start in Park City with partnerships between the National Ability Center and the Utah Olympic Park. 

Dani Aravich will be competing in the Paralympics; she was a part of the bid process and helped in getting the Olympics and Paralympics back to Salt Lake City for 2034.

Salt Lake 2002 was the first Games to fully integrate the planning of both the Olympics and Paralympics under a single organizing committee. 

Muffy Davis, a Paralympic Summer and Winter gold medalist, lived in Park City while with the National Ability Center, and later in Salt Lake City, and is now a member of the International Paralympic Committee. 

The full Paralympic schedule can be found HERE. How to watch the Games via NBC-owned channels in the United States can be found HERE.