Hunter Woodhall Captures Elusive Paralympic Gold Medal With ...
SAINT-DENIS, Frane – Hunter Woodhall powered down the final straight with fire and determination to overtake defending champion Johannes Floors and win gold in the men's 400-meter T63 event.
Woodhall clocked 46.36 seconds to defeat the German athlete by a substantial 0.54 second margin.
It was a first Paralympic title for the 25-year-old double amputee Woodhall, after he ran to bronze medals at both the Tokyo 2020 and Rio de Janeiro 2016 Paralympic Games in his preferred event.
“This is a lesson in shooting for the stars and making big goals – dream big, show up, do your best and you never know what might happen,” Woodhall told reporters, after the emotional gold-medal winning performance. “I was hungry and I wanted it so bad.
“I believed that I had the potential to do it – Tara has taught me a lot and one of them has been the power of self-affirmation and journaling, so I have been writing in my journal that I will be a Paralympic champion and now it’s true,” he said, referring to his Olympic long jump champion wife, Tara Davis-Woodhall.
The elusive gold medal victory must have tasted sweeter than a Crème brûlée for Woodhall, considering that he has also come up a tad short at world championships, twice settling for silver and also being disqualified in 2024 due to a prosthetics technical issue and violation.
The Fayetteville, Arkansas, adaptive athlete undoubtedly delivered in the clutch, under pressure on a pleasant Friday evening at Stade de France as temperatures hovered around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Woodhall’s winning time was 0.27 seconds off his personal best of 46.09, but ultimately it was inconsequential.
“I think there is always pressure to perform, that’s athletics – its heart-wrenching, it’s tough, you never know what is going to happen, but for me I wanted to give everyone supporting me a show – I know how many tuned in for the Paralympics this is growth for the Paralympics and everyone is paying attention and I wanted to help show this.
“The reception was incredible, the crowd was incredible, and I’m just very grateful,” Woodhall said.
After letting out a few screams of ecstasy, Woodhall quickly darted to the sidelines of the track and engaged in a long hug, including a few spins, with his Olympic long jump winning wife, Tara. The emotional embrace appeared to last longer than it took for Woodhall to actually run the race.
“We’ll just enjoy this – we say a lot, like these are the moments, and man, this might be the moment,” he said.
Woodhall’s teammate and fellow double amputee, Blake Leeper, also showed a strong final kick, but missed out on the medals finishing fourth. The 35-year-old veteran clocked a personal best of 47.32 seconds. It was a heck of an effort from Leeper, who was a 400m T44 silver medalist, 12 years ago at the London 2012 Paralympic Games
Perhaps Woodhall’s performance was also a bit of redemption from his sixth-place finish in the 100m T64 final four days ago, even though he set a personal best. After that race, he wrote to his 764,000 Instagram followers: “I’m proud of the way I competed.”
Still, it was evident that the desire inside was burning stronger. Woodhall – along with the unwavering support of wife Tara – proved that was indeed true.
Woodhall was incredibly emotional, breaking down in tears on the victory stand as the Star-Spangled Banner played and a special evening came to a close.
McFadden Wins Record 21st Paralympic Medal in Universal Relay
Woodhall’s work on Friday night wasn’t done just yet. Roughly, an hour and a half after blazing to 400m gold, Woodhall ran the second leg for Team USA in the fascinating 4x100-meter universal relay Final.
The relay consists of teams of four individuals – two men, two women – representing varying disabilities: visual impairment, amputee, cognitive and athletes in wheelchairs. Teammates tag one another, as relay batons are not used.
Woodhall (T62) lined up with his U.S. teammates, Tatyana McFadden (T54), Noah Malone (T12) and Taylor Swanson (T37).
The American foursome teamed to win a bronze medal, clocking a time of 47.32 seconds, as China won gold. For McFadden, it was a U.S. record-setting 21st Para track and field medal.
“It feels incredible and an honor to be part of this relay team, and for me, this is one more medal,” McFadden said. “It’s a little bit emotional because this is my final (event) on the track in front of this incredible crowd.
“I have the marathon on Sunday, but right now I am just so happy to make history as the athlete with the most (Paralympic) medals for the USA (in Para track and field).
“But the job’s not finished for me yet – I have my eyes set on LA (2028 Parlympic Games),” said the 35-year-old athlete, competing in her sixth Summer Paralympic Games.
