Nancy Gustafson
Competition | 2025
Hometown: Pittsfield, Massachusetts
School Name: University of New Hampshire
Nancy started skiing at age 2 and began racing at age 6 at the Bousquet Ski Area. Gustafson attended the ski racing academy at Green Mountain Valley School in Vermont for four years (grades 10 to post graduate). She was also the first girl to play in boys Little League baseball in Pittsfield. She would attend the University of New Hampshire, where she competed in NCAA Division 1 Ski Championships her freshman and sophomore years. It was at the 1985 NCAA Ski Championships her sophomore year that she struck a lift tower during practice, partially paralyzing her left arm and hand. She was 20 years old.
The following year, in 1986, Gustafson would win four gold at the World Disabled Championships in Sweden. She would also win 5 gold at the 1990 World Championships in Winter Park and 2 bronze at the 1996 World Championships in Lech, Austria. As far as Paralympic achievements, Gustafson would take home a silver medal at the 1988 Paralympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria. The following Paralympics in Albertville France in 1992, she would earn 3 gold medals. At the 1994 Paralympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway, she would garner 4 more gold, bring the total number of Paralympic medals to 8 (7 gold and 1 silver) in four disciplines (downhill, slalom, GS, and Super G) over three Paralympic Games. In the US and Canadian Nationals, she accrued a total of 33 gold, 6 silver, and 1 bronze medal.
Nancy went on to graduate from Colorado State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 1999. In 2004, she was an Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine while simultaneously spending additional time studying medical oncology. Gustafson then received her Master of Science in Medical Dosimetry from the University of Wisconsin LaCrosse. After a long career as a Veterinary Radiation Oncologist, Nancy joined the Huntsman Cancer Hospital at the University of Utah in 2019 to treat humans. Gustafson met her husband in Park City, Utah and they were married in Nepal at the Tengboche monastery on their trek to Mount Everest Basecamp.
Among her awards and honors are being named the 1989 Colorado Amateur Sports Athlete of the Year and the USOC Athlete of the Year 1989 and 1993. She was inducted into the University of New Hampshire Hall of Honor and will be inducted into the US Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in April 2026.
