SCI Superstar: Alana Nichols

Alana Nichols, a Paralympic athlete in downhill sit-skiing and basketball, is the first US woman to win Paralympic medals in both the Summer and Winter Paralympics. But being an athlete is only half of what she does. Alana is also a busy mom, motivational speaker, and an ESPY Award winner. Learn more about Alana Nichols’ amazing story, replete with Paralympic glory, below.

Why She’s Fearless

Growing up in a small town in New Mexico, Alana was an athletic girl who loved the slopes. Each winter she would spend snowboarding in Colorado, and this was how she was injured. She broke her back when she was 17, while trying to do a back flip (she over-rotated and landed on a rock, becoming a T10-11 paraplegic).

After 2 years she ready to try sit-skiing. And in 2002, she was introduced to wheelchair basketball. That introduction was exactly what she needed. She quickly became talented at the sport that the University of Arizona gave her a scholarship. She studied education and has her masters in kinesiology. In 2005, Alana made the National Wheelchair Basketball team, and she made the US Paralympic team for the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. She helped the team win gold medal glory. 

After the 2008 Paralympics, Alana switched gears and began training in Alpine (downhill) skiing for the 2010 Vancouver Paralympics. She won gold at these games in both the Downhill and Giant Slalom. She also won silver in the Super-G and bronze in the Combined. At the 2012 Summer Paralympic games, she made the US basketball team again, but they got 4th. And at the 2014 Sochi Winter Paralympics, she won a silver in Downhill.

Alana’s last appearance in the Paralympics was at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, where she made her debut in paracanoe, a sport that is relatively new to the Games.

What’s Next?

Growing older, Alana has decided to retire from competitive adaptive athletics, but that hasn’t slowed her down one bit. In 2019, Alana with her fiancé Roy had their son Gunner, who is her pride and joy.

In addition to being a busy mom, she’s still passionate about adaptive athletics, and is a motivational speaker as well. She’s working to bring adaptive surfing to the 2024 Summer Paralympic games in Paris, so that it becomes an official sport.

– Visit her site: Alana Nichols