Aussie para ski great kicks off Paralympics comeback
Joanna Guelas |
Michael Milton’s remarkable 20-year comeback at the Milan-Cortina Games has begun, with the Australian para-alpine ski great shaking off the rust in the men’s super-G event.
Less than 23 days after undergoing surgery for a leg fracture, the 52-year-old Milton clinched a finish in 22nd in the standing event on Monday (local time) in Cortina.
His result comes a day after Ben Tudhope claimed SB-LL2 snowboard cross silver for Australia’s first medal of the Games.
Milton is competing in his sixth Paralympics 38 years after his first, having initially retired after the 2006 Torino Games.
He is Australia’s most decorated winter Paralympian, boasting 11 medals, including six golds.
A leg injury almost derailed his comeback, with Milton suffering a fracture in his femur while training in the US in February.
The Canberra local needed surgery to fix a fracture at the top of his amputated left leg.
Milton had lost his leg to bone cancer as a nine-year-old, and has battled cancer twice since 2006, having had bowel cancer in 2023.
Returning to the Games at 52 years 350 days, Milton is Australia’s oldest winter Paralympian in the event’s 50-year history.
Milton will also compete in slalom and giant slalom after pulling out of the downhill event due to his injury.
AAP travelled to Cortina d’Ampezzo as a guest of Paralympics Australia.
AAP