Alana Nichols

Who is Alana Nichols?

Alana Nichols is a Paralympic wheelchair basketball player and alpine skier from the United States.

While growing up in Farmington in northern New Mexico, Nichols would spend winters snowboarding in Colorado. During one such snowboarding trip in 2000, she attempted a back flip but over-rotated and landed back-first on a rock. The subsequent injury left her paralyzed from the waist down.

In 2002, Nichols was introduced to wheelchair basketball and quickly excelled at the sport. She received a scholarship to play with the University of Arizona, where she studied education. After serving as an alternate for the U.S. women's team at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, was named to the national team in 2005, and helped the team win a silver medal in the 2006 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship. She later attended graduate school at the University of Alabama, eventually graduating with a master's degree in kinesiology. Her Paralympic debut came in 2008 when, as part of the U.S. women's team, she won a gold medal in wheelchair basketball at the Beijing games.

One month after the Beijing Paralympics, Nichols moved from Alabama to Colorado to begin training in alpine skiing.