The Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) will honor O&P advocates and athletes at its 2026 Heroes of Sport Awards on October 23 in San Diego. The awards recognize achievements and contributions toward expanding access to sport for people with physical disabilities.
Nicole Ver Kuilen and Kyle Stepp will receive Trailblazer awards for their leadership in the So EveryBODY Can Move initiative, a national movement working to improve coverage of activity-specific O&P devices. Drawing on her experience as an athlete with limb loss, Ver Kuilen is helping mobilize advocates to change state policies and make movement more accessible. Stepp, an endurance athlete with limb loss, brings personal experience and a community-centered approach to advocacy. So EveryBODY Can Move aims to enact legislation in 28 states by the 2028 Paralympic Games, creating a foundation for pursuing nationwide reform.
Three-time Paralympian Mohamed Lahna will receive the Exceptional Athletic Performance Male Award for the second consecutive year. Lahna earned a bronze medal in the triathlon at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and a silver at the Paris 2024 Games.
This year he was the first athlete with a lower-limb amputation to complete a triathlon across America, a 28.5-mile swim around Manhattan, approximately 3,000 miles of cycling, and a final running leg across the desert to the Southern California coast, while raising awareness and support for CAF and Save the Children. Lahna’s journey into triathlon was supported by CAF. He is training for the 2028 Paralympic Games.
Nine-year-old Beauden Baumkirchner will receive the Sam Day Rising Star Award, which recognizes a young athlete’s dedication to pursuing athletic goals. Baumkirchner, who has bilateral transfemoral limb loss, plays baseball, races jet skis, and recently began surfing.
