Hunter Woodhall (born on February 17, 1999) is an American track and field athlete. He won a bronze medal in the Men's 400m T62 at the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralym ...

. On 16 October 2022, Woodhall married his longtime girlfriend, Olympian Tara Woodhall. He made his international debut in 2015 with a silver and bronze medal at the

2015 IPC Athletics World Championships The 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships were a Paralympic track and field meet organized by the World Para Athletics subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. The event was the 7th edition of what is now known as the World Para ...

, and later won a bronze and silver medal at the

2016 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

. After graduating from Syracuse High School, he became the first double amputee to earn an

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

scholarship.

Early life

Woodhall was born in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

while his father was serving in the military. Woodhall's parents decided to amputate both his legs at 11 months old due to

fibular hemimelia Fibular hemimelia or longitudinal fibular deficiency is "the congenital absence of the fibula and it is the most common congenital absence of long bone of the extremities." It is the shortening of the fibula at birth, or the complete lack thereof ...

. Raised in

Syracuse, Utah Syracuse is a city in Davis County, Utah, United States. It is situated between the Great Salt Lake and Interstate 15, about north of Salt Lake City. It is part of the Ogden– Clearfield, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city has s ...

, he was homeschooled until fifth grade and upon entering public school he was bullied for his disability. Although he was originally given prosthetic legs, Woodhall switched to carbon fiber "blades" for running and joined a track team.

Career

While attending Syracuse High School, Woodhall competed with the United States National Paralympic Team in international competitions. He made his international debut in 2015 with a silver and bronze medal at the

. By his senior year, Woodhall was ranked 20th across America in the 400m run with a time of 47.32 seconds. He competed in the

where he won a bronze medal in the men's 400 meter and a silver medal in the men's 200-meter. As a result, Syracuse City’s Mayor, Terry Palmer deemed September 15 “Hunter Woodhall Day.” By the conclusion of his high school education, Woodhall was named 2016 Male High School Track Athlete of the Year. Upon graduating, Woodhall became the first double-amputee track and field athlete to earn a Division I athletic scholarship, which he accepted at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

. In his freshman year at the University of Arkansas, Woodhall competed in the SEC division alongside able-bodied runners. He competed in six indoor meets, running 1:58.04 over 800 meters, and seven outdoor meets, running 47.42 over 400 meters. His times earned him a bronze medal in the 4x400 at the SEC Outdoor Championships. By the conclusion of the season, he was nominated for NCAA Game Changer of the Year and named a First-Team All-America in the 4x400 Relay and Distance Medley Relay. During his sophomore and junior years, Woodhall ran a lifetime-best 46.22 seconds in the 400-meter at the SEC outdoor championships and became a three-time All-American in the 4x400-meter. While in his junior year, Woodhall joined the video sharing app

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

where he shared the story of how he lost his legs. As a result, he was invited to ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was prod ...

'' where he was given $20,000 to help him with his 2020 Paralympic goals.

References

External links

Paralympic profile

Team USA profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodhall, Hunter Living people 1999 births Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Paralympic silver medalists for the United States Track and field athletes from Utah Paralympic bronze medalists for the United States American male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Arkansas Razorbacks men's track and field athletes American amputees Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Paralympic track and field athletes for the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics People from Syracuse, Utah