Hunter Woodhall Wins At Paralympics, Joining Wife As Gold Medalist: 'Full Of Emotions'
PARIS (AP) — One month after Tara Davis-Woodhall’s Olympic title in the long jump, her husband Hunter Woodhall, a double amputee, won his own Paralympic gold medal Friday at the Stade de France.
Davis-Woodhall’s rush into the stands for a celebratory hug from her husband became a viral moment during the Olympics, and the roles switched this time in the Paralympics.
Woodhall won the T62 400 meters in 46.36 seconds, leaving Germany’s Johannes Floors the silver in 46.90 and the Netherlands’ Oliver Hendricks the bronze in 46.91.
Woodhall, who raced for the able-bodied track team in college at Arkansas, also won a bronze medal as part of America’s 4x100 universal relay team. This comes a year after he didn’t make it to the starting line at Para world championships because his prosthetics were malfunctioning.
“This is like a fever dream,” Woodhall said. “I am so full of emotions right now. It is so incredible. I have been waiting so long and gone through so much stress and worry about achieving this. When I crossed the line, I was like, ‘Am I really first this time or am I still dreaming?’”
An end to Dutch dominance in wheelchair tennis
Yui Kamiji swept the women’s wheelchair tennis competition at the Paris Paralympics.
She won the singles final over Dutch favorite Diede De Groot 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at Roland Garros.
The day before, Kamiji won her first gold medal in the doubles with Japan teammate Manami Tanaka. They beat De Groot and Aniek Van Koot.
“I just can’t describe how big this is,” Kamiji said. “Yesterday, after the doubles match ended, I wasn’t satisfied. I started to think about the singles.”
Wheelchair tennis officially joined the Paralympics in 1992. Since then, only Dutch players had won the women’s singles and