Huckaby Wins Second Career ESPY
Three-time Paralympic gold medalist, five-time World Champion and one of the most decorated Para snowboard athletes of all time, Brenna Huckaby has won the 2024 “Best Athlete with a Disability” ESPY at the ESPY Awards in Los Angeles, California. This is her second ESPY win and third nomination.
The U.S. Para Snowboard Team athlete is coming off of one of the best seasons of her career, and one that she says she is “most proud of.” Huckaby’s impressive 2023-24 season included seven World Cup wins and 10 podiums across snowboard cross and banked slalom disciplines, which led to her taking home all three FIS Crystal Globes, marking her the best woman Para snowboarder of the season.
Brenna was first nominated to the U.S. Para Snowboard Team in 2015, an opportunity that she took and ran with. By 2017, she had already been crowned World Champion three times, and was on the way to her first Winter Paralympic Games in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea. She brought home two gold medals in snowboard cross and banked slalom from her first games before taking a break from the sport to give birth to her second daughter in 2020. Less than a year later, she was back on the World Cup circuit and earned two more World Championships medals (one gold, one silver) in 2021. Since then, she has earned another gold and a bronze medal at the 2022 Winter Paralympics all while continuing to fight for opportunities for Para athletes. Vying for the win in every event she start, Huckaby’s accolades are a testament to her strength and consistency as an athlete.
“We are thrilled to see Brenna win her second ESPY,” said Sophie Goldschmidt, President and CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard. “Brenna is a champion of Para sport and a role model for so many on and off the snow. We are lucky to have athletes like her in our organization and I’m excited to see what is to come for her heading into a World Championship season.”
Brenna was nominated alongside Para cycling/Para nordic skier Oksana Masters and Para track and field athletes Ezra Frech and Haydin Blackwell.
Congratulations, Brenna!
Brenna Huckaby
Brenna Huckaby, a three-time Paralympic gold medalist and five-time World Champion, was first introduced to Para snowboarding in 2013 after losing her right leg to cancer at age 14. She quickly achieved success in the sport, landing her first World title only two years into her competitive career. In her Paralympic debut at the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, Huckaby cemented her place at the top of the Para snowboarding world, winning two gold medals, including the first-ever gold in the banked slalom discipline.