- Syracuse native Hunter Woodhall celebrates after winning the men’s 400 meter T62 final at the 2024 Paralympics on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Paris.
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- Syracuse native Hunter Woodhall from the U.S. celebrates after winning the men’s 400 meter T62 final at the 2024 Paralympics on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Paris.
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- Tara Davis-Woodhall, left, of the United States, celebrates with her husband Hunter Woodhall after winning the women’s long jump final at the 2024 Summer Olympics on Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris.
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- Jeremy Campbell of the U.S., centre, Trinidad and Tobago’s Akeem Stewart, left, and David Blair of the U.S. celebrate after winning gold, silver and bronze medals in the men’s discus F64 at the 2024 Paralympics on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Paris.
Thibault Camus, Associated Press
Syracuse native Hunter Woodhall celebrates after winning the men’s 400 meter T62 final at the 2024 Paralympics on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Paris.
Hunter Woodhall has Paralympic medals on his trophy case, but he’s been missing one type of metal.
“World championships can change your career, but the Olympics can change your life,” Woodhall told the Associated Press earlier this year. “It’s a different beast.”
Life-changing opportunities might be on the way for a newly golden couple of track and field.
Woodhall, the 25-year-old native of Syracuse, won his first gold medal Friday, emerging victorious in the 400-meter T62 field with a time of 46.36 seconds to top the podium at the Paris Paralympics.
It’s a sweet moment in itself: Woodhall had twice won bronze in the event (Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020) and finished second at this year’s world championships with Team USA. He also won a silver in the 200 meters in the Rio Paralympics.
Thibault Camus, Associated Press
Syracuse native Hunter Woodhall from the U.S. celebrates after winning the men’s 400 meter T62 final at the 2024 Paralympics on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Paris.
Now he has gold.
Not only that, but he’s also matched his wife and longtime partner Tara Davis-Woodhall; the two went justifiably viral when Davis-Woodhall capped an undefeated season in the long jump with a gold medal one month ago in Paris.
Woodhall was caught on film being overcome with emotions as his wife completed her winning jump, and the two embraced in joyous hugs after the event.
Woodhall was born with fibular hemimelia, a condition that prevents lower limbs from developing properly. He’s a double amputee and runs on blades. He had his first amputation at 11 months old, according to his Team USA bio.
He may have seen his gold medal coming after his personal best in the 100-meter T64 race Monday. Though he finished sixth with a time of 10.96, he felt good about his performance.
Bernat Armangue, Associated Press
Tara Davis-Woodhall, left, of the United States, celebrates with her husband Hunter Woodhall after winning the women’s long jump final at the 2024 Summer Olympics on Aug. 8, 2024, in Paris.
“Progress,” he wrote on Instagram. “I’m proud of the way I competed. I told myself I wanted to use the 100m as an opportunity to improve. In Tokyo I took dead last, and it wasn’t particularly close … I fought hard, and competed in an event I’m still not fully comfortable in.
“Always tough facing failure, but I’m grateful. I’ll use this as motivation. 400m coming up.”
Woodhall then added to his collection later Friday, winning a bronze medal as part of the United States’ 4×100 meter relay team that clocked a 47.32 finish.
He now has one gold, one silver and three bronze medals as a three-time Paralympian.
Woodhall ran so well at Syracuse High School that he became the first double-amputee track athlete to receive a Division I scholarship. He ran at the University of Arkansas and was a three-time All-American in the 4×400 relay.
Thomas Padilla, Associated Press
Jeremy Campbell of the U.S., centre, Trinidad and Tobago’s Akeem Stewart, left, and David Blair of the U.S. celebrate after winning gold, silver and bronze medals in the men’s discus F64 at the 2024 Paralympics on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Paris.
He and his wife, who jumped at Texas in college, met in 2017 at Idaho’s Simplot Games high school invitational and were married in 2022. They’ve chronicled their journey through success, injuries and more for six years on their YouTube channel “Tara and Hunter.”
BLAIR WINS BRONZE
Davis High and Weber State alumnus David Blair returned to the podium Thursday after taking bronze in the F64 discus competition with a throw of 57.76 meters.
Blair won the gold medal in the event eight years ago in Rio by throwing a world-record 64.11 meters. He just missed the podium in fourth place in Tokyo.
Blair, 48, was born with a clubfoot. Doctors said he would never be able to function normally but, after several surgeries and using videos to teach himself the discus, he won a high school state championship as a discus thrower and went to Weber State on scholarship.
He set six school records in hammer, discus and indoor weight at Weber State. The distances Blair threw at WSU would have broken world records at the time, but he didn’t become aware of that fact until years later, a 2016 story from WSU said.
After 16 years away from throwing, he discovered he was Paralympics eligible in 2015 and returned to the discus, qualifying for the 2016 Paralympics and winning gold.
BLAIR WINS BRONZE – Additional Insight
In addition to his remarkable journey to the Paralympics podium, David Blair’s resilience and determination serve as an inspiration to many. Overcoming physical challenges and defying the odds, Blair’s dedication to his sport and continuous pursuit of excellence exemplify the true spirit of the Paralympic Games.
