Brenna Huckaby Reflects on 2026 Milan Cortina Paralympic Games: ‘Joy Is My Gold’

The 2026 Milan Cortina Games marked Brenna Huckaby’s third Paralympics. Going into this year’s competition, the 30-year-old snowboarder had a total of four Paralympic medals to her name. She earned gold in both the women’s snowboard cross and banked slalom events during her 2018 debut in Pyeongchang, and went on to secure another gold (once again in the banked slalom) and a bronze (for snowboard cross) at the 2022 Games in Beijing.

This time around, Huckaby competed in both events, placing sixth in snowboard cross and earning a bronze medal in the banked slalom. This year’s Paralympics was the first time the Baton Rouge native competed in an event and did not medal—but she’s not letting it get the best of her.

Kate Delson, Lisa Bunschoten-Vos and Brenna Huckaby | Marcus Hartmann/Getty Images

“This was the first Games I walked away without a medal at an event, and so that experience was new, but it’s interesting because I don’t feel the defeat, or like the feelings that one would think you would have after not medaling,” Huckaby, who is now the most-decorated U.S. Paralympic snowboarder in history, tells SI Lifestyle. “I’m not sure if it’s because I haven’t processed it, or if it’s just, like, I truly felt like I was in the moment every time and there was so much good to look at and I had certain goals for myself, [which] was to have fun, make the Games memorable and be competitive, and I did all of those things.”

She adds that having her daughters, Lillah and Sloan, present for the first time to watch their mom compete at the Paralympics made not medaling in the snowboard cross event easier to process.

Brenna Huckaby and her daughters | Dario Belingheri/Getty Images

“I knew they were watching and both my daughters are wanting to compete, and so, you know, I can lecture them all day, but they learn really by watching, and so I was able to ... not win with a smile on my face and be there for the other competitors,” Huckaby shares.

Her husband, Tristan Clegg, and her parents were also cheering her on all the way, and Huckaby says their belief in her made all the difference. During the Beijing Paralympics in 2022, international athletes weren’t allowed to have loved ones in the stands to watch due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which made the experience feel “lonely,” Huckaby says.

“Being with my family, there’s nothing better in this world,” she says. “[This year] my family also had these signs that they were holding at the course, and it said, ‘Remember you’ve already won.’ That’s something that I always remind myself of: The life that I live outside of sport is something that I cherish and is just as important as any representation that I could provide or any medal that I could win. If not, it’s more important. And so, remembering that life and that happiness and that joy is my gold. It’s something that I’ve already achieved, and I get to just live in that whenever I want, and that’s really special.”

Up until the 2022 Winter Paralympics, women’s snowboarding was divided into two different lower-limb classifications: SB-LL1, for those with an above-the-knee amputation (like Huckaby) and SB-LL2, which consisted of athletes with less severe lower-limb impairment. However, starting with the Beijing Games, the two categories were merged, meaning athletes like Huckaby, who have more severe impairments, are automatically at a disadvantage.

Since Huckaby is required to compete in the SB-LL2 classification, it puts additional stress on her physical and emotional well-being. And while the categories have been combined for women’s Para snowboarding, they remain separate for men’s events.

Brenna Huckaby | Marcus Hartmann/Getty Images

“It is just mentally challenging watching the men in their separate categories get celebrated and recognized, and then knowing that I have to work, like, four times as hard to just get a piece of that [being in a combined classification],” Huckaby, who recently partnered with Hershey’s, explains.

As she continues to fight for separate categories among classifications as the next season approaches, Huckaby has plenty to take away from the 2026 Milan Cortina games, in addition to some brand-new hardware.

“I think the biggest lesson was being in the moment and feeling the feelings as they come [which] allows you to not carry them with you as you go,” she says.

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