“I just kind of had to sit there and understand that was the reality of the situation, because of me not doing the right things leading up to that meet and preparing,” he said.

Woodhall said he takes full responsibility for his malfunctioning blade. He said he knew it wasn’t in perfect condition and that he procrastinated on fixing it.

“This year, I’ve changed that,” Woodhall said. “I’ve started with, let’s make sure that the things we’re relying on, just like a Formula 1 team would do, are right. Let’s control the controllable and really try to take all those things that can go wrong out of the equation, so we can win more medals.”

Woodhall, who’s already getting back into the swing of training, is leveraging this experience to improve his performance like never before.

After the world championships, he worked with a prosthetist in Europe for two and a half weeks. Woodhall said it’s more affordable to work on prosthetics overseas, and they took a data-driven approach to reconfiguring things like new feet and sockets.

“If I can take the knowledge from my prosthetist, which is here in the U.S., and the knowledge of what they’ve learned over there (in Europe), I think I can create the best product to put me in a position to win, which is what ultimately is my goal this year,” he said.

Woodhall said dropping out of that 400-meter final in Paris also taught him a lesson in humility. He learned he has to separate his personal life from his athletic career.

“I can’t put my value in how I performed at a big championship,” he said.

Woodhall doesn’t have any competitions until late January, and his next major meet is a few months thereafter. He’ll get the chance to qualify for the 2024 Games at the U.S. Paralympic Team Trials, which will take place July 18-21 in Chula Vista, California.

Until then, he is doing everything he can to put himself in the best position to win.

“I’ve been the young kid in the sport for just showing up and hoping things go well,” he said. “It took a real big reality moment to be like, no, we have to have our things in check. We have got to solve these problems before they start.”

Ryan Wilson is a writer and independent documentary filmmaker from Champaign, Illinois. He is a freelance contributor to usparatf.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.

Hunter Woodhall Enters 2024 With Added Perspective After Reality Check

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