![Dan Cnossen skiing during paralympic games](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/2026-03/2022-02-28%20Dan%20Cnossen%20REIS%20PARA%20FAVES%2026735%20resize.jpg?itok=bYbcm_j7) 

 



 

#  From Navy SEAL to Paralympic Champion: Dan Cnossen on Faith, Meaning, and Endurance  

 





Ahead of the 2026 Paralympic Winter Games in Italy (March 6-15), Dan Cnossen, MPA ’16, MTS ’18, reflects on his journey from the U.S. Navy to Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Divinity School—and to multiple Paralympic Games.



 

March 04, 2026

 

 

 [ Emma Scharff, HDS News Correspondent ](/news/news-stories/emma-scharff) 

In the months leading up to the Paralympic Winter Games, Dan Cnossen’s life follows the snow–Argentina in August, Germany in October, the northeastern United States, Canada’s Rocky Mountains, and now back to Europe, as the 2026 Games in Italy approach.

This season has meant “five months of total snow time,” Cnossen said. As a skier, the formula is straightforward: “You got to be where the snow is.”



 

 

 

  ![Dan Cnossen with family members in front of Swartz Hall during commencement. A Harvard Divinity School Commencement flag is above the three people](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/2026-03/DanCnossenHDSGradPhoto1%20square.jpg)

 



 

 Photo courtesy of Dan Cnossen.



   

 

  ![Dan Cnossen training on a track with Memorial Stadium in the background](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/2026-03/AHi_j0192_10%20square%20resize.jpg)

 



 

 Photo by Rose Lincoln/Harvard University.



   

 

  ![Dan Cnossen shaking David Hempton's hand on stage at commencement](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/2026-03/DanCnossenHDSGrad2%20square.jpg)

 



 

 Photo courtesy of Dan Cnossen.



   

 

 

 

 

For Cnossen, a four-time Paralympian and seven-time medalist, the journey has never been only about geography—or even medals.

In 2018, while finishing his final year as a Master of Theological Studies (MTS) student at Harvard Divinity School (HDS), he also competed in his second Paralympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, racing in cross-country skiing and the biathlon and winning gold in the 7.5 km biathlon. This March, he returns to the Paralympic stage, competing in cross-country skiing for Team USA.

Despite earning seven Paralympic medals, Cnossen resists defining his career by podium finishes. “I did this more for the actual sport than for the results of the sport,” he said. More important than competing in the Paralympic Games or achieving a particular outcome “was this process of getting into the sport and really benefiting from it in many ways.”

His search for meaning, however, began long before coming to Cambridge, MA. In 2009, while serving as a Navy SEAL, Cnossen lost both legs in combat. In the years that followed, he found himself confronting life’s most fundamental questions—about purpose, suffering, and what endurance requires. That period marked the beginning of what he would later describe as an ongoing search for meaning.



 

  ![Dan Cnossen competes in skiing event, racing over snow with flags and trees in the distance](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/2026-03/Dan%20Cnossen%20REIS%202778%20square%20resize.jpg)

 



 

 Competing at the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics. Photo by Mark Reis, USOPC.



   

 

  ![Dan Cnossen having the gold medal placed around his neck](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/2026-03/Dan%20Cnossen%20Jake%20Adicoff%20REIS%202926%20gold%20resize.jpg)

 



 

 Winning the gold medal at the 2022 Beijing Paralympic Winter Games. Photo by Mark Reis, USOPC.



   

 

  ![Dan Cnossen finishes a race during paralympic games, with two figures in the background ](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/2026-03/Dan%20Cnossen%20REIS%202711%20square%20resize.jpg)

 



 

 Beijing Paralympic Winter Games, 2022. Photo by Mark Reis, USOPC.



   

 

 

 

 

After studying at [Harvard Kennedy School](https://www.hks.harvard.edu/) (HKS) and graduating in 2016 with a Master in Public Administration (MPA), he chose to continue at HDS, motivated by a desire “not necessarily to get answers, but just to read the writings of thinkers who have thought about deep questions.” Even if those thinkers “may not have answers either,” much of the joy, he said, came from being “in touch with these texts” with “human wisdom distilled in writing.”

He has described the sport’s “redemptive” quality in language that echoes his experience in the Navy: “being witness to my teammates saving my life through their own brave efforts, putting their lives on the line.”

That sense of meaning-making reflects the religious traditions he studied at HDS, and what he learned at the School continues to shape his life as both athlete and speaker.

As he prepares to compete once again on the world stage, that integration—of discipline and reflection, endurance and inquiry—remains central. For Cnossen, the pursuit of sport and the pursuit of meaning are not separate paths. They are one ongoing practice.

*Banner photo: Beijing 2020 Paralympic Winter Games, by Mark Reis, USOPC.*



 

  ![Dan Cnossen competing in paralympic games, racing in a ski event over snow](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/2026-03/CNOSSEN%20Dan-180314kusumoto140%20square%20resize.jpg)

 



 

 PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games. Photo by Joe Kusumoto, USOPC.



   

 

  ![Dan Cnossen raising his arm in triumph after competing in the paralympic games](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/2026-03/CNOSSEN%20Dan-180316kusumoto312%20square%20resize.jpg)

 



 

 PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games. Photo by Joe Kusumoto, USOPC.



   

 

  ![Dan Cnossen racing during the paralympic winter games, with a Sochi 2014 banner in the foreground.](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/2026-03/CNOSSEN-140311kusumoto035%20square%20resize.jpg)

 



 

 Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games. Photo by Joe Kusumoto, USOPC.



   

 

 

 

 

 



 

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