Michael Milton returns to alpine skiing on same hill as Lindsey Vonn’s crash

Cortina: The small village of Cortina D’Ampezzo lies low in a basin surrounded by walls of sedimentary rock that forms the Dolomite mountain range in northern Italy. In winter, a thick white powder reaches these cliffs like a blanket tucked under a child’s chin.

But any illusions that these mountains provide protective comfort to the town are shattered by the remarkable presence of Tofane di Mezzo and the ski slope that starts just below. This course, with its rich Olympic and World Cup history, launched Lindsey Vonn’s Olympic hopes just a few weeks ago. And it’s the same course that on Monday saw the return of Australia’s most decorated Winter Paralympian, 20 years after the last one.

Six-time gold medalist Michael Milton, 52, has returned to football. paralympics He’s on top of that menacing mountain in the alpine ski super-G standing competition. For many competitors, finishing the race is satisfaction enough, let alone placing in the top 20, as Milton did. But he wasn’t satisfied when I climbed an equally challenging metaphorical mountain to get to this point.

“Judging from where I came from last month… [it was a] It’s a very tough day,” said Milton at the finish line. “Standing at the start, ready to push, ready to slide fast. “I’m proud of my effort, but the skiing was definitely a bit miserable.”

Since competing in his last Winter Games in 2006, Milton has been diagnosed with his second and third cancers, after being amputated in childhood due to a rare and aggressive bone cancer. Less than a year after his second diagnosis of oesophageal cancer, he became the fourth Australian to compete at the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games in Beijing in 2008.

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Last month alone, he broke his femur; This was his second broken bone since his third bowel cancer diagnosis. He had surgery on his femur and was only allowed to ski again last week. Meanwhile, his family was stranded in transit in Doha for five days, including his children Matilda and Angus, who inspired him to return to the Paralympics.

But the weight of 20 years and the burdens of the past month were no heavier than Milton’s expectations of conquering the torturous slope of Cortina to a standard comparable to that of the past.

“While I’ve done a lot of scary things, like skiing and racing super fast, I’m generally the kind of person, perhaps less so today, who has the mental discipline to control that fear. I was definitely better at it 20 years ago than I am now, at least on the evidence to date,” he said.