Over 83% of Team USA Athletes to Compete in the 2026 Winter Paralympic Games Have a Connection to Move United
Founded in 1956, Move United has played a pivotal role in establishing and promoting Paralympic sports in the United States, and contributions leading to the first Paralympic Games in 1960. Over the years, Move United has been a significant player in U.S. Paralympic sport, fielding U.S. teams for international Paralympic Games prior to the establishment of U.S. Paralympics and the direct oversight of Paralympic sports by National Governing Bodies (NGBs).
Move United continues to use the power of sport to push what’s possible for people with disabilities, confronting ignorance, fueling conversation, and inciting action that leads us to a world where everyone’s included.
Through its programs as well as its national network of over 245 member organizations in 45 states and the District of Columbia, Move United continues to be a pipeline to the Paralympics. Of the 72 athletes that will represent the United States at the 2026 Winter Paralympic Games in Italy, 60 of them had participated in Move United programs or been involved in one of Move United’s 245 member organizations across the country.
MOVE UNITED PROGRAMS AND EVENTS
14 of the 72 Paralympians are individual members of Move United, including snowboarder Kate Delson and Zach Miller, alpine skiers Ravi Drugan, Blake Eaton, Matthew Brewer, Noah Bury, Jesse Keefe, and David Williams; sled hockey player Brett Bolton, Nordic skier Michael Kneeland, Josh Sweeney and Nicole Zaino, and wheelchair curlers Steve Emt and Laura Dwyer.
Nearly 20 of these athletes have been a part of The Hartford Ski Spectacular conducted by Move United, one of the nation’s largest adaptive winter sports festivals in the country held each December in Breckenridge, Colorado. Those athletes include some of the individual members listed above as well as alpine skiers Hailey Griffin, Patrick Halgren, Andrew Haraghey, Andrew Kurka, Michael O’Hearn, and Spencer Wood; snowboarders Keith Gabel and Mike Schultz; and Nordic skier Oksana Masters.
9 other Team USA athletes are connected through other Move United programs and events, including snowboarders Brenna Huckaby and Noah Elliott, Nordic skiers Dani Aravich and Max Nelson, sled hockey players Griffin LaMarre, Evan Nichols, Landon Uthke, and Jack Wallace; and alpine skier Laurie Stephens.
MOVE UNITED WARFIGHTERS PROGRAM
Since 2003, Move United has proudly served more than 21,500 wounded warriors and their family members through the Move United Warfighters program. Seven athletes that will wear a uniform for the U.S. again have participated in Move United Warfighters activities, including Sweeney and Cnossen in Nordic, sled hockey team members Travis Dodson, Jen Lee, and Josh Misiewicz, as well as Wheelchair Curlers Dan Rose and Katie Verderber. On another note, Move United Warfighter Orlando Perez is also competing in alpine skiing for Puerto Rico for the second time.
MOVE UNITED MEMBER NETWORK
And finally, 23 members of Team USA have participated with one or more Move United member organizations, including alpine skiers Audrey Crowley, Kelsey O’Driscoll, Margaret Gustafson and guide Spenser Gustafson, Allie Johnson, Saylor O’Brien, Anna Soens, Jasmin Bambur, Robert Enigl, Tyler McKenzie, and Kyle Taulman, snowboarder Joe Pleban, Nordic skiers Dan Cnossen, Kendall Gretsch, and Aaron Pike; sled hockey players, David Eustace, Declan Farmer, Noah Grove, Malik Jones, Kevin McKee, Josh Pauls, and Brody Roybal; and wheelchair curler Sean O’Neill.
Those member organizations include National Sports Center for the Disabled (Colorado), National Ability Center (Utah), Adaptive Action Sports (Colorado), Dare2Tri (Illinois), GLASA (Illinois) Disabled Athlete Sports Association (Missouri), Shirley Ryan Ability Lab (Illinois), Kennedy Krieger Institute (Maryland), Northeast Passage (New Hampshire), Adaptive Adventures (Colorado), Steamboat Adaptive Recreational Sports (Colorado).
Move United is a proud affiliate of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Sports make us more—more determined, more powerful, more ourselves. And now, the stage is set for the best para athletes in the world to shine. Like many, we will be rooting for these Team USA athletes at the 2026 Winter Paralympic Games in Milan Cortina, which takes place March 6-15.
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