Alana Nichols
Sport: Wheelchair Basketball, Alpine Skiing
Residence: Winter Park, CO
Since she was five years old, Alana Nichols has been playing organized sports. Although many sports were part of her life in high school, softball was her focus. She was a member of her high school softball team until she was involved in a snowboarding accident during her senior year. After being away from competition for roughly two years, Nichols was introduced to wheelchair sports.
Nichols began playing wheelchair basketball in 2003 at the University of Arizona. The culmination of her effort was when she tried out and made the U.S. Paralympic Women's Wheelchair Basketball National Team in 2005. She has been on the national team ever since. Nichols made her Paralympic debut in Beijing and was a member of the gold medal winning team. However, after winning the Gold in Beijing, Nichols returned to the slopes & started training & racing with hopes to make the US Adaptive Alpine Ski Team. After her first season on the racing circuit, Nichols made the National Team and competed at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada.
When Nichols is not on the hardwood, she enjoys working out, playing guitar and thrift store shopping.
Career Achievements
- 2011: Gold Medal, Downhill, Super G; Bronze Medal, Slalom- World Championships, Sestriere, Italy
- 2010 ESPY Nominee- Best Female Athlete with a Disability
- 2010: Gold Medal Downhill, Gold Medal Giant Slalom, Silver Medal Super G & Bronze Medal Super Combined- Paralympic Winter Games, Vancouver, Canada
- 2009: Nominated to the U.S. Adaptive Development Team
- 2009: Gold Medal, Downhill & Super G; Bronze Medal, Super Combined & Slalom. US Alpine Nationals, Winter Park, CO
- 2009: Gold Medal, Super G & Silver Medal, Downhill, Canadian World Cup
- 2008: Gold Medal Wheelchair Basketball- Paralympic Games, Beijing, China
- 2008: First Place - North American Cup, Birmingham, Alabama
- 2008: First Place - Joseph F. Lyttle World Basketball Challenge, Warm
Springs, GA - 2008: First Place - Osaka Cup, Osaka, Japan
- 2007: Gold Medal - Parapan American Games, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- 2006: Silver Medal - IWBF Gold Cup (World Championships), Amsterdam
Nichols works closely with The Hartford, Founding Partner of U.S. Paralympics®, a division of the U.S. Olympic Committee, helping to positively change public attitudes and perceptions about disability.
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