Christopher J. Waddell Biography

CHRISTOPHER J. WADDELL
Commentator, Athlete, Author

Recently inducted into the US Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame, Chris Waddell competed in alpine skiing and wheelchair track and was also the first “nearly unassisted” paraplegic to summit 19,340-foot Mt Kilimanjaro in a handcycle. A 13-Time Paralympic medalist, he is also a Hall of Famer for US Ski and Snowboard Association and the Paralympics. He began to ski race at six and was competing for Middlebury College when his ski popped off in the middle of a turn. The resulting fall left him paralyzed from the waist down, but he started to monoski less than a year later and soon became the fastest in the world. The Dalai Lama honored him as an “Unsung Hero of Compassion,” Skiing Magazine put him on their list of 25 Greatest Skiers in North America and People Magazine named him one of “The 50 Most Beautiful People.”