A Milestone in Para Ice Hockey
Declan Farmer, the United States’ leading forward in Para ice hockey, captured the 2026 ESPY Award for Best Athlete with a Disability, a testament to his pivotal role in securing a fifth straight Paralympic gold for Team USA.
His 15 goals and 26 points in a single Games set new Paralympic records, and his career totals of 255 goals, 191 assists and 446 points make him the all‑time leader in every offensive category for the U.S. program.
Records and Honors at Milano Cortina
At the Milano‑Cortina Winter Games he also collected MVP, Best Forward and Media Best Player honors, and the achievement marks only the second time a Para ice‑hockey player has won the ESPY category, following Steve Cash’s victory in 2010.
The other nominees for the award were Jake Adicoff, Oksana Masters and Susannah Scaroni, highlighting the expanding platform of disabled sport, while the United States’ double Olympic‑Paralympic sweep — gold in both men’s and women’s ice hockey and in Paralympic Para ice hockey — represented a historic first in a single year.
A Historic Year for American Ice Hockey
The New York Knicks’ 2026 NBA championship, ending a 53‑year title drought, added a cultural footnote to a year in which American ice‑hockey dominance spanned the Olympic and Paralympic stages, underscoring a broader surge in national sporting achievement.