At nine years old, Declan Farmer sat in a sled for the first time at a clinic run by a group of players from a New York sled hockey club. He had been playing soccer, tee-ball, and sailing in Tampa for years but kept running into the same wall.

"I was always athletic as a kid and into sports," he has said. "I was looking for something I could be competitive in."

Seventeen years later, on March 15, 2026, Farmer completed his fourth consecutive Winter Paralympics gold medal in Milan. Team USA beat Canada 6-2 before a record crowd of 10,795 at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. He was named tournament MVP, Best Forward, and Media Best Player after setting new single-tournament records for goals (15) and points (26). His career Paralympic goals total reached 36, and his career points reached 66. Both are all-time records in the sport.

How He Got to the Ice

Farmer was born in Tampa in 1997 with bilateral fibular hemimelia, a condition in which the fibula bones are absent or severely underdeveloped. Both legs were amputated before his first birthday. He uses prosthetics. In daily life, he walks on them without obvious difficulty; one amputation is above the knee and one is below, which creates an asymmetry that affects how he moves on land.

It doesn't affect how he plays on ice.

Para ice hockey is played on modified two-bladed sleds, with athletes pushing and shooting using two short sticks fitted with picks on the end. The rules follow standard hockey, with no standing allowed and sleds built to each athlete's dimensions. What the sport rewards most is upper-body explosiveness, quick hands, and a forward's instinct for where the puck is going. Those come from years of practice on ice, not from what you were born with.

When the Tampa Bay Lightning launched a local sled hockey club the year after Farmer started, he had regular ice time and organized competition. He made the U.S. national team at 14.

That's the level playing field he was looking for.

Princeton, Then the Gold Medals

Farmer attended Berkeley Preparatory School in Tampa and went to Princeton, graduating in 2020 with a degree in economics and a certificate in computer science. He turned down whatever came next professionally to train full-time. If you're wondering what a Princeton economics degree is worth when you're the best player in your sport at 24, you have your answer.

His record entering Milan was three consecutive gold medals. He won his first at Sochi 2014, at 16, and came home named IPC Best Male Athlete and carrying an ESPY Award. Four years later at PyeongChang 2018, with the gold medal game against Canada tied and 37 seconds left in regulation, Farmer scored the tying goal. Then he went out in overtime and scored the winner. Beijing 2022 brought a third.

Four consecutive Winter Games. Four gold medals.

What He Did in Milan

Farmer scored in all five games at the 2026 Games. He posted hat tricks through the preliminary round and, in the 6-1 semifinal win over Czechia, recorded three goals and three assists, setting new single-tournament records for goals (14) and points (24) before the final was even played.

In the gold medal game against Canada, he scored again. Final numbers: 15 goals and 26 points. He had surpassed Canadian Billy Bridges' all-time Paralympic points record during the preliminary round and kept extending it with every game.

Captain Josh Pauls won his fifth consecutive gold in the same building, becoming the first para ice hockey player in history to reach that number. Farmer's post-game comments were about the crowd: nearly 11,000 fans turned out, a record attendance for para ice hockey at any Winter Games. He called it a sign of "what Paralympic sports are growing into."

For Families Watching the Game at Home

Farmer's path started at a clinic. A single event in Tampa, run by out-of-town players, introduced him to the sport at nine. That entry point still exists: USA Hockey runs developmental sled programs at the youth level in cities across the country, designed specifically to bring kids into the game at exactly that age.

If your child has a physical disability and isn't finding the right fit in mainstream sports, sled hockey has an on-ramp. The adaptive sports guide for the 2026 Paralympics winter sports covers how to find local clubs and what the first steps look like. CAF equipment and participation grants are open and available for families who qualify.

Farmer was nine years old, frustrated with tee-ball, sitting in a sled for the first time. His national team debut came five years later. His fourth gold medal came last Sunday in Milan, in front of the largest crowd para ice hockey has ever played in front of.