Mikey Brannigan, Hunter Woodhall Land In Rio For Paralympics


There's a solution to the Olympic rings-sized hole in your sports fan heart: the Paralympic Games. Teen track stars Mikey Brannigan and Hunter Woodhall landed in Rio, Brazil this week to compete for top honors at the event to be held Sept. 8-17.

Brannigan, who has autism, competes in the T20 classification. The 19-year-old New York native is the 2015 IPC Athletics world champion in the 1500m; he's also the world record holder in the 1500m (3:48.85) and mile (3:57.58) for his classification. The 1500m final is on Sept. 13.

Watch Brannigan set the T20 world record in the mile below:


Woodhall, who is a double amputee, competes in the T43 classification. He placed third at last year's 2015 PIC Athletics World Championships with a time of 49.05; he has since lowered his PB to 47.63 in winning the Utah State Championship. 

Woodhall, who enters his senior year at Syracuse High School in Utah this fall, will race the 200m trials on Sept. 11 and 400m trials on Sept. 14. The 200m final is on Sept. 12; the 400m final is on Sept. 15. Woodhall will also run anchor leg on the 4x100m relay; the final is on Sept. 12.

Check out these tweets to follow their journey!