Dukat grew up competing in able-bodied sports. She played basketball, high-jumped and was on her high school swim team. When she called the
Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) looking for an amputee support group, she found out about
their sports teams. It was only then that she learned that Paralympic sport existed.
Swimming In 1996, Dukat joined the swim team at the RIC.
Skiing Dukat first became interested in skiing in 1997, after attending the
Disabled Sports USA Hartford Ski Spectacular. She started to ski in the
RIC Paralympic Sports Program, then committed to training 6 months of each year at the
National Sports Center for the Disabled in Colorado. Dukat won two bronze medals for alpine skiing at the
2002 Winter Paralympics in
Salt Lake City and one bronze medal at the
2006 Winter Paralympics in
Turin. At the 2004
IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships, she won bronze medals in 3 events,
downhill,
Giant slalom and
Super-G. She had success in the
IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup, achieving many podium finishes; in the 2003–2004 season, she finished fifth overall.
Triathlon Dukat turned to triathlon as a way to keep motivated and active during the skiing off-season. In 2003, she won the Physically Challenged division of the
Olympic distance St Anthony's triathlon. 2008, and 2010. In 2008, she represented the US at the
ITU Triathlon World Championships in Vancouver. She became 2008 World Champion in her above knee impairment classification, and was named 2008 USA Triathlon Paratriathlete of the Year.
Running Having previously competed in 5K, 10K and half marathon races, Dukat ran her first marathon in January 2009. She was paced by training partner and below-knee amputee world record holder
Amy Palmiero-Winters. With a time of 4:40:46, she was the first female above-knee amputee to finish a marathon in less than 5 hours. ==Personal life==