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SALT LAKE CITY — The Olympic spirit is still alive and well for athletes competing in South Korea.
The 2018 Pyeongchang Paralympics begin Thursday and six Utahns will participate in it as a part of the United States’ 74-person roster of athletes and guides.
Sadie DeBaun, of Park City, an Alpine skiing guide; Keith Gabel, of Ogden, competing in snowboard-cross; Brenna Huckaby, a Jordan High alumna competing in snowboard-cross and banked slalom; Nicole Roundy, of Salt Lake City, competing in snowboard-cross; Danelle Umstead, of Park City, competing in Alpine skiing; and Rob Umstead, of Park City, an Alpine skiing guide, are among the team.
DeBaun, a Park City native and resident, is participating in her first Paralympics as a guide, according to the Team USA website.
Gabel, a Ben Lomond High graduate, won a bronze medal at the 2014 Sochi Paralympic Games. He is competing in his second Games after having his foot amputated following an industrial accident in 2005. He returned to snowboarding about three months after his injury, according to his Team USA biography page.
Once he returned to snowboarding, Gabel rose through the ranks in the snowboarding community and medaled in the first ever snowboard-cross event in 2014.
Huckaby, a 2014 graduate of Jordan High School and Baton Rouge, Louisiana native, is competing in her first Paralympics. She had her right leg amputated after an osteosarcoma diagnosis in 2010, according to her Team USA bio page. She moved to Utah after the amputation and began snowboarding.
Roundy is competing in her second Paralympic Games. She finished eighth in the 2014 snowboard-cross event in Sochi, Russia. The Viewmont High alumna was diagnosed with a form of bone cancer when she was eight years old and had her right leg above her knee amputated, according to her Team USA bio page.
However, she continued to participate in sports afterward, playing volleyball and basketball before going into skiing and snowboarding.
The Umsteads are the only married couple on the team, according to the Team USA website. Both are participating in their third consecutive Winter Paralympics. Danelle Umstead, who competes in the visually-impaired classification, has won three bronze medals since 2010. Rob Umstead has worked as her guide since 2008, according to Team USA.
The U.S. team has athletes competing in alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, sled hockey, snowboarding, and wheelchair curling. The Games will be held from Thursday through March 18 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
