When he was 11 months old, Hunter Woodhall had both of his legs amputated as a toddler due to a degenerative bone disease. He was born without fibulas, a leg bone that many runners know too well for the wrong reasons when they get a stress fracture injury. Now as a 16 year old sophomore at Syracuse High School in Utah, Woodhall is one of the best paralympic athletes in the World. (Read more on Woodhall in this long form feature two weeks ago by Deseret News).
This past weekend, Woodhall competed at the Great Southwest Classic in New Mexico, which one of his meet highlights was winning his heat of the 400 meter dash in a new personal best time of 49.15. Watch his 400 PR race above as well as post-race interview below with MileSplit.
Woodhall also competed in several relay races over the weekend in Albuquerque for Team Utah. This past spring, Woodhall finished third in the 5A 400 meter dash finals in the Utah state meet and also ran a PR of 22.41 in the 200 meter dash at his regional meet.
In the International Paralympic rankings, Woodhall as a 16 year old ranks #1 in the World in the T43 classification at 400 meters, while is ranked #2 in the World for 200 meters. He certainly has a bright future ahead to compete on World stage in Paralympic competitions, but as shown with his PR and heat win against other high schoolers at the Great Southwest Classic, will be a name to watch racing on the high school track & field scene in the state of Utah and beyond.
- Hunter Woodhall's Athlete Profile
- Deseret News Feature on Woodhall
- More Coverage from Great Southwest Classic
