Utahn Hunter Woodhall wins gold at 2024 Paralympics

Hunter Woodhall is leaving the 2024 Paralympics in Paris as a gold medalist.

Woodhall, who is from Utah, won his first-ever Paralympic gold medal Friday in the 400-meter T62 event.

Then, roughly an hour later, he won bronze in the universal relay after running the second leg of the race for the U.S.

“I’m just waiting to wake up, man. I have the best team in the world, best team in the world. I couldn’t have done it without them,” Woodhall said during the broadcast after winning gold.

What did Hunter Woodhall say after winning gold?

Woodhall ran the 400-meter in 46.36, pulling away from the reigning Paralympic gold medalist, Johannes Floors of Germany, with roughly 50 meters to go.

“I didn’t know it was mine until I crossed the line. Still doesn’t feel real, but we just said go out and run an easy 250 and bring it home, and that’s what I did today,” he said during the broadcast.

Upon crossing the finish line, the Syracuse, Utah, native paid tribute to his late uncle, who passed away in 2021 from cancer . He ran to the broadcast camera and held up his bib, turning it around to reveal the message, “Wyatt Woodhall, this one’s for you.”

Woodhall then ran to his wife, Tara Davis-Woodhall, who was in the stands.

Davis-Woodhall won gold in the long jump last month in the 2024 Paris Olympics. The couple went viral for their emotional embrace after she won gold .

They had a similar moment Friday as they embraced after Woodhall’s gold. Davis-Woodhall held a shirt that said “Team Hunter.”

“It’s been so hard to keep the emotions under control with just everything that’s gone on the past few weeks,” he said Friday.

In addition to his wife and family cheering him on in the stands in Paris, a watch party of children at Shriners Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, where Woodhall was a patient, followed his performance, according to the broadcast.

After winning his gold, Woodhall shared a message for Shriners.

“This gold is as much mine as it’s yours,” he said. “That’s one of the first things Tara and I planned, going back to Salt Lake City Hospital, seeing you guys and now we’re bringing two gold medals, baby.”

The universal relay, the only event where athletes with different disability qualifications compete against each other, was Woodhall’s last event of the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

Earlier in the games, he competed in the men’s 100-meter but ultimately finished sixth.

Woodhall previously won silver and bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics and bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, according to the International Paralympic Committee .