Carl Murphy

A rider from the days before Para snowboard became a Paralympic sport, New Zealander Carl Murphy has an impressive resume of finishes under his belt.

In 2012, he won the head-to-head snowboard-cross format and finished second in the sling-shot at the World Snowboard Federation World Championships in Orcieres, France.

In recent seasons, he has finished in the top 10 in the men’s SB-LL2 World Cup rankings. His record in 2014-15 showed his podium potential, with a gold in banked slalom and a bronze in snowboard-cross at an IPC Snowboard World Cup in Big White, Canada.

But he subsequently missed the 2015 World Championships, due to an injury sustained at the 2015 X Games, and the 2015-16 World Cup season, due to a serious knee injury.

Murphy likes to joke about how his below-the-knee impairment came about:

“I lost my leg at a young age while surfing off the south coast of Australia when a tiger shark thought I looked like a tasty lunch package!”

“Ha, I wish it was that dramatic! I was actually born with only one and a half legs. However, this has not stopped me from getting up on a snowboard and competing at an international level.”

Murphy is also the only impaired rider to be named onto the New Zealand national team, and will be back on snow in 2016-17 aiming to get back to his best.