“This is like a fever dream,” Hunter Woodhall was spellbound by what transpired in the French capital. After years of relentless hard work, he felt a surge of emotions when his moment of glory finally arrived in Paris. But, while the world saw that win, a pivotal moment was left unnoticed before that day. However, Woodhall has now taken a moment to remind the world of the victory that changed it all for him.

Woodhall ran a blistering 46.36 seconds to lift his maiden Olympic gold in Paris. In fact, in doing so in the men’s T62 400m final, the 25-year-old double amputee was 0.54 seconds quicker than the defending champion, Johannes Floors of Germany. But what prepared him to clock a time in the 46-second range? It was his breakthrough run in Spain that he is now looking back at.

January 9, 2025, Hunter Woodhall took to his Instagram and added a reel from his run at the Iberoamericano de Atletismo meet held at the Estadio Iberoamericano de Huelva, Spain, in 2023. In it, the Paralympic gold medalist confessed, “Before this race, I hadn’t run 46 seconds in over 3 years.” The last time he had entered the 46-second bracket was in 2019, at the NCAA West Preliminary round in Sacramento. He had done that in 2020 as well, but that was on the 400m short track at the SEC Indoor Championships, College Station.

Hunter Woodhall admitted that the timings since these had left him feeling dejected. But he hadn’t learned to give up, had he? “Starting to think I lost my touch but wanted to give it another shot. All I could do was my best,” he said. And that’s when the magic happened! Mid-race, he began feeling that he was going strong, and so he fought to the finish. And the result? “46.5, I’m back!” he exclaimed, on seeing his finish time.

Straight up to embrace his wife, Tara Davis-Woodhall, on the sidelines, Hunter then said, “I haven’t run 46 in like 3 years, it’s been so tough, man. And I am back baby. Imma keep running faster. I am on now!” That’s exactly how Hunter Woodhall flipped the script. There may have been some divine intervention too. But thanks to this race in Spain, his mantra prior to entering Paris had changed. It now was, ‘Even when it feels like, you’ve lost it, keep moving forward believe in yourself.’

But yes, Hunter Woodhall’s 400 timings between 2020 to 2023 were a mess! You know when you are aware that you can do better, but you are unable to? Well, the Paralympian was facing the same back then. If we look at his top 10 400m performances, only one of them is from 2024, the 46. 39 that he clocked at the Arkansas Twilight, at the John McDonnell Field. The rest of the 9 are either from 2019, or 2023. There’s no in-between, for Woodhall was running a consistent 47 seconds plus time then.

But resilience? Hunter’s full of it! No wonder he bounced back into the 46s range and from a career-threatening disease too!

Hunter Woodhall’s bounced back from having deformed limbs

Fibular hemimelia is the condition that Hunter Woodhall was born with. It led to him being restricted to the home school till fifth grade. Yet, he never let that get in the way of his life. “I had two elder brothers. I just followed them all the time. They played sports. I played sports, and you know, It’s never let me use my disability as an excuse,” he said.

And he proved it. Hunter’s not just an Olympic gold medalist now, but the first-ever double-amputee to earn an NCAA Division I scholarship in track and field. Beyond that, he has also co-founded a clothing brand and invested in real estate on the side. In fact, Hunter’s also a social media influence, as he and his wife even run a YouTube channel named ‘Tara and Hunter,’ which has more than nine lakh subscribers. What do you think of his life story? Isn’t it inspiring? Let us know below!