From the first Indigenous Winter Paralympian to a 52-year-old who is back after nearly 20 years away, who to look out for at Milano Cortina
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ollowing a Winter Olympics of unprecedented success for team Australia, the nation’s para-athletes will be hoping to emulate that golden form when the Milano Cortina Paralympics begin on Friday. Australia has won a medal at every Winter Paralympics since 1992, with the high-point coming at Salt Lake City in 2002 thanks to a record six gold medals.
In Italy, Australia will be represented by 12 para-athletes and two guides across four sports, a slight increase on the team size from Beijing 2022. Who are Australia’s medal hopefuls?
Already a two-time Summer Paralympics gold medallist, the remarkable Reid will make history as Australia’s first Indigenous Winter Paralympian in the weeks ahead. The Wemba-Wemba and Guring-gai woman started her career as a para-swimmer, competing at the 2012 Games, before switching to track para-cycling. Success soon followed, with silver at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio before consecutive gold medals in Tokyo and Paris, alongside a dozen world titles.
