Patrick McDonald
Patrick McDonald is a member of the 2014 U.S. Paralympic Curling team. He is a U.S. Army veteran who lost the use of his legs when the armored personnel carrier he was riding in rolled on the way back from patrol in Korea. McDonald is active in adaptive sports, playing golf, bowling and kayaking in addition to wheelchair curling. He hopes to win a medal at both the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games and is working towards making the Paralympic shooting team in the near future. McDonald lives with his wife, Carrie, and two children – a daughter, Andie, and a son, Kaelan, in Madison, Wisconsin.
McDonald first started curling in 2008. McDonald first represented the United States in international competition as the alternate for the American team at the 2009 World Wheelchair Curling Championship. He then represented the United States as third under skip Augusto Perez in the 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver, where they finished fourth. McDonald became the skip of the United States wheelchair curling team in 2012, and led his team to a fifth-place finish in the world championship. He skipped the United States team at the 2013 World Wheelchair Curling Championship, and led his team to a fourth-place finish after losing in the semifinal to Canada’s Jim Armstrong and losing a tight game to China in the bronze medal game. McDonald skipped the United States team at the 2014 Winter Paralympics, and finished tied for fifth after the round robin. He also skipped the United States team at the 2015 World Wheelchair Curling Championship. The United States team had a promising start, winning the first four of five games, but lost the final four games and finished in fifth place.
Paralympic Experience:
- 2010 Paralympic Games – fourth place
Career Highlights of Patrick McDonald
- 2013: World Wheelchair Championship Team
- 2012: fifth place – World Wheelchair Championship
- 2009: gold medal – Kathy Kerr Open, Ottawa, Canada
- 2009: gold medal – U.S. Open
- 2009: bronze medal – Kingross Invitational, Scotland
- 2009: fourth place – World Wheelchair Championship, Vancouver, Canada
Patrick McDonald appears in
World Footprints is broadcasting from Sochi, Russia where we have just arrived for the country’s first ever Winter Paralympic Games. Before we left the United States, however, we caught up with Taylor Imus, a young journalism student from Ball State University (BSU) who traveled to Sochi with other BSU student journalists. She shared her Olympic experience and some helpful insights into this city that has gained tremendous international attention.