PARIS, FRANCE – Three-time Paralympian Hunter Woodhall (Syracuse, Utah) earned the first Paralympic title of his career and Team USA brought home four medals on the eighth day of track and field competition at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

Woodhall earned two medals in less than 90 minutes after teaming with Tatyan McFadden (Baltimore, Maryland), Noah Malone (Fishers, Indiana), Taylor Swanson (Spokane, Washington) and Korban Best (Southlake, Texas) for bronze in the mixed 4x100-meter universal relay. Also medaling for Team USA was Derek Loccident (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), who utilized a massive personal-best to snag silver in the men’s high jump T64, and Mikey Brannigan (Northport, New York), who earned his second career Paralympic medal with a bronze in the men’s 1500-meter T20 race.

After eight days of competition, Team USA’s medal count stands at 34, including 10 golds.

Woodhall ran the race of his life, overtaking reigning 400-meter T62 Paralympic champion Johannes Floors of Germany in the back half of the race to win his first Paralympic title. Woodhall’s time of 46.36 ended up edging Floors by .54 seconds.

“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?'.”

Teammate Blake Leeper (Kingsport, Tennessee) also had an excellent showing in the 400-meter T62, knocking off .13 seconds off his previous personal best and finishing with a time of 47.32 in fourth place. A two-time Paralympic medalist, Leeper is competing in his first Paralympic Games since London 2012.

Woodhall is now a four-time Paralympic medalist. He and his wife, Olympian Tara Davis-Woodhall, each won gold in their respective events in Paris. Davis-Woodhall was the women’s Olympic long jump champion.

“Tara has taught me a lot about self-affirmation,” Woodhall said. “Before the Olympics, she was writing in her journal, ‘I will be the Olympic champ’. And ‘I am strong, I am fast’. I have had my journal here and I wrote in it today, ‘I will be the Paralympic champion’. And now I am."

The 400-meter T62 champion had a quick turnaround, as he competed in the mixed universal 4x100 immediately following his win. Teaming with McFadden, Malone and Swanson, Team USA earned the bronze medal in 47.32. Best ran in the morning preliminary heat that qualified the team for the final, thus earning a medal as well.

It was the third medal of the Games for Malone and the second for Woodhall, Best, Swanson and McFadden.

“We’re competitors so we always want gold,” Malone said. “ When we step on the track, bronze is never what we expect. We expect gold, but this is track and field. You never know until the race is over. So you live and learn. But a bronze is still a win.”

McFadden, meanwhile, earned her 22nd career Paralympic medal, including the silver she won in Sochi in 2014 in Nordic skiing. She will attempt to earn another in the marathon on Sunday.

“In the relay we always push it so hard and go further for each other,” she said. “It feels incredible and an honor to be part of this relay team. It’s a little bit emotional because this is my final on the track in front of this incredible crowd.”

Already a silver medalist in the long jump T64, Loccident impressed in his first Paralympic high jump competition, soaring to a personal-best of 2.06 meters and a silver medal.

He said after the competition that his goal was to clear two meters, whether he medaled or not. To come away with a medal and a personal best was more than he could have asked for, he said.

“I feel great, absolutely amazing,” Loccident said. “I came in kind of banged up from the long jump a few nights ago. My goal was to clear two meters as I’ve had limited practice for high jump. Then wherever I placed, I placed. I’m leaving a happy man, though I was already leaving a happy man with the silver from long jump.”

Loccident is relatively new to high jump, having added the event to his repertoire prior to the 2024 world championships. He won silver at world championships in his international debut in the event and now has added a Paralympic medal.

He wraps his competition slate at his first Games as the only United States athlete to compete in runs, jumps and throws.

“I perform best when there is pressure on me. I don’t know why I do this to myself, but I do,” he said. “In most of the events I’ve competed in I’m leaving with a personal best so I’m excited.”

Brannigan’s bronze in the men’s 1500-meter T20 was the first for the Paralympic champion since he won the event in 2016. Brannigan’s time of 3:49.91 was just half a second off of the silver medal.

The now two-time Paralympic medalist, who is also the 2024 world champion in the 1500-meter, took off hard from the starting line and was leading until Great Britain’s Ben Sandilands surged ahead in the last lap and set a new world record.

Brannigan said he was happy to earn a medal.

“I fought really hard for a medal,” Brannigan said. “I was happy with how it went. I took it out hard from the start. That’s what I did, I fought really hard and fast to the finish. I’m enjoying Paris, I’m taking every minute and enjoying it.”

In the mens’ javelin F54 competition, Tokyo bronze medalist Justin Phongsavanh (Des Moines, Iowa) nearly had his second Paralympic medal, finishing fourth with a best throw of 29.31 meters.

The world record holder in the event, Phongsavanh said he was disappointed in the outcome, but learned from his mistakes today.

“You go into any competition, you want to win,” he said. “I went into this competition number one in the world. I think it’s one of those things where you know you can do it, but it’s just putting it together on a given day, and today I wasn’t able to make the changes that were needed to get on the podium. It’s a lesson learned, it’s just a hard lesson to learn.”

Competing in her first Games since becoming a mother, two-time Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku (Boston, Massachusetts) placed sixth in the final of the women’s 100-meter T64 final, clocking a time of 13.15.

In her sole event in Tokyo, three-time Paralympian Taleah Williams (Omaha, Nebraska) placed sixth in the women’s long jump T47 with a best mark of 5.33 meters. This is the third time placing in the top-six for Williams, who earned fourth in Tokyo and fifth in Rio at her Paralympic debut.

Rounding out a trio of sixth-place finishes for the U.S. was Kaitlin Bounds (Russelville, Arkansas), who finished sixth in the women's 1500-meter T20. Her time of 4:40.30 lowered the American Record by nearly five seconds and was a massive personal-best.

In preliminary heat action, Rayven Sample (Jamestown, New York) and Catarina Guimaraes (Cranford, New Jersey) wrapped their Paris competition slates by finishing sixth in their heats of the men’s 400-meter T47 and the women’s 400-meter T38. It was the second Paralympic Games for Sample, who recently graduated from Bucknell University after competing on their varsity track and field team, and the first for the 20-year-old Guimaraes.

Track and field competition in Paris resumes Sept. 7 at 10 a.m. local time. All sessions will be streamed live on NBC’s Peacock. Follow U.S. Paralympics Track & Field on Facebook, Instagram and X for team results and updates from Paris 2024.

For media requests and photo inquiries, please contact Kristen Gowdy at Kristen.Gowdy@usopc.org.

Team USA Medals – September 5, 2024

GOLD
Hunter Woodhall – men’s 400-meter T62

SILVER
Derek Loccident – men’s high jump T64

BRONZE
Mikey Brannigan – men’s 1500-meter T20

Korban Best, Noah Malone, Tatyana McFadden, Taylor Swanson, Hunter Woodhall – mixed 4x100-meter universal relay

Other Team USA Results

Justin Phongsavanh – 4th, men’s javeling F54

Blake Leeper – 4th, men’s 400-meter T62

Femita Ayanbeku – 6th, women’s 100-meter T64

Taleah Williams – 6th, women’s long jump T47

Kaitlin Bounds – 6th, women’s 1500-meter T20

Rayven Sample – prelims, men’s 400-meter T47

Catarina Guimaraes – prelims, women’s 400-meter T38

Woodhall Gets Golden Moment in Penultimate Day on the Track at Paris Paralympics

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