Hunter Woodhall was just 17 when he made it to his first Paralympic Games in 2016. On that occasion in Rio, he earned a silver (200m T44) and a bronze (400m T44). Since then, the track and field prodigy has dedicated his life to turning the colors of his medals into gold. On September 6, 2024, the dream finally became a reality as he clocked 46.36s to become the 400 m T62 gold medalist in Paris. With a heartful of gratitude, Hunter, alongside his wife, Olympic long jump champion, Tara Davis-Woodhall, returned to the place from where it all started.

Hunter was born with the congenital fibular hemimelia. The condition prevented the proper development of the Paralympian’s lower legs. To ensure his overall well-being, at just 11 months, Hunter’s parents had to make the heart-wrenching decision to amputate their son’s legs. But as Hunter says, “They said I’d never walk, So I learned to run instead.” And the place that has been instrumental in this quest is the Shriners Children’s Hospital. After reaching the tipping point of his career, it was time for Hunter to give back.

On September 21, Hunter and Tara’s joint Instagram account ‘thewoodhalls’ shared a series of pictures of the couple spending their time at the Shriners Children, Salt Lake City. “Where it all started @shrinershospitals. What an honor to come back to the hospital where my running career started. Shriners Children’s has always took a chance on me, believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.” the 25-year-old Paralympic champion wrote, revealing that it was this place that made him his first blades.

“Can’t express how grateful I am to return as Paralympic Champion and share the importance of dreaming big and working hard. These kids are the future,” Tara Davis-Woodhall’s husband added as they uploaded snippets of their time at the institute. The gold medalists spent the entire day with disabled kids undergoing treatment at Shriners, giving autographs, speaking to and inspiring them to dream. They also donated $10,000 to the institute. Not only that, Hunter and Tara, in fact, also had some competition to face there.

The couple took part in friendly races (normal run and in wheelchairs also) and Hunter was pretty impressed with the performances of the children out there. So much so that he said that he might have to look for a new job! However, one of his little rivals could not give such an ovation to the 5x Paralympic medalist.

“I was so surprised how slow Hunter is,” said the wheelchair-borne, with a joyful smile on his face and Tara couldn’t stop but cheer him loud! The Shriners Children’s National Ambassador even recreated a picture with a young fan. The Paralympic gold medalist had posed for the same picture when the fan was just a baby. The move only shows that Shriners is more than just any other hospital for Hunter. Back in 2016, in a conversation with Harry Connick Jr., he had revealed the same.

Hunter was asked by the host about Shriners’ role in his journey. “What they’ve done is amazing. I think you know my whole entire life I was treated as as a kid with a disability you know, growing up in school I was bullied a lot because I was different and from the beginning you know Shriners took me in as a person and they looked at me as a person, as an athlete” Hunter had said.

According to Hunter, the hospital did not just want him to be ok but to excel in his running. “They wanted me to succeed like a normal kid, give me that chance to be able to do that,” Hunter had stated. With all that, Hunter projected the Shriners community as his second family. While Hunter said these, his mother, Barb Woodhall, was there in the audience.

Recalling their time with Hunter, a teary-eyed Barb said, “When he was born, we had no idea what his future held um and we know there’s greater things to come.” If Landing with the Shriners is one of those things, Tara Davis-Woodhall is surely another one.

Tara Davis-Woodhall and Hunter Woodhall conquer it ‘two’gether

If Shriners Children’s gave Hunter Woodhall the courage to stand at the starting line, then Tara was the one who helped him cross the finish line. The Paralympic medalist wrote a heartfelt note even before the 25-year-old high jump specialist competed in the Olympic finals.

“No one has worked harder. No one has been more disciplined. You inspire me every day to be great. Tomorrow is your moment,” the two-time para world championship medalist wrote on Instagram. “Tomorrow is your moment,” wrote Woodhall, and he was right. However, he wasn’t done admiring Tara Davis-Woodhall for how she inspired him.

Hunter Woodhall spoke to USA Today ahead of competing in the 2024 Paralympic Games. “Tara has taught me a lot, and one of them has been like the power of self-affirmation and journaling,” he told USA Today. The three-time Paralympian further penned his desire to become champion every day in his journal, another habit he picked up from his wife. On the day of the 400 m T62 finals, the results spoke for themselves. But don’t think that it is only the support of Tara that makes Hunter better. There is another side to it as well.

On Rising Phoenix YouTube on 27 August. Hunter Woodhall revealed that it’s competing for the little things that truly bring the best out of them. “It’s just constantly like competing with each other, like after the fact, like we are checking our stats like seeing how many notes we missed and stuff. So, it’s just little things like that, even if like we are riding our bikes, like playing with dogs, like we’ll just like race each other randomly, like up at the land and stuff. We really compete on all kinds of little things,” Hunter had said. If this is true, then it is also true that they do everything together.

“We’ll push each other to be better too, Especially this year, Tara has been locked in. She doesn’t want a miss a workout and if one of us is going to do it, we are both doing it, like we don’t do things solo. So, it’s a healthy competition, and it continues to make us both better.” Indeed, we saw that in Paris. For the unversed, leaping 7.10m, Tara’s gold medal in the long jump came just a month before Hunter’s. It is no surprise that as Hunter embarked on his full-circle moment at the Shriners, Tara was also proudly standing beside him.