Michael Milton is Australia’s most successful Winter Paralympian. During a career that spanned over more than two decades, he won 11 Paralympic medals - including six Golds - and 6 World Championship titles in the LW2 category.  

Milton lost his left leg above the knee as a consequence of bone cancer, when he was just nine years old. Growing up into a skiing family, he was still determined to get into the sport despite his disability. 

He made his Paralympic debut at the 1988 Innsbruck Winter Games as a 14-year-old. The young Canberran competed in the LW2-category in the Downhill, Giant Slalom and Slalom, without winning any medal. He would never come back empty-handed from a Winter Games again!

In 1992, at his second Winter Paralympics, Milton won Australia’s first ever winter gold medal (Paralympic or Olympic), leading the field in the Men’s Slalom LW2 and officially kickstarting Australia’s winter sports success at the Games. Having set himself the goal of a podium finish, Milton was ecstatic with his victory over the then unbeatable world champion Alexander Spitz from Germany, who got disqualified in the first run. Milton built on the confidence of his success bringing home a second medal, this time a Silver, in the Super-G.

Milton’s medal haul increased in Lillehammer, where he won four more, including one Gold, one Silver and two bronze medals. But his most memorable performance was still to come. In Salt Lake, in 2002, Milton produced an historical four-Gold clean sweep of the Alpine skiing events in his class, a performance which later also earned him the title of Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability. 

His six Paralympic gold medals record is matched by his six IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships wins, all achieved between 1996 and 2004. 

After the 2002 Games, looking for a new challenge, Milton took up speed skiing. He broke the world record in his rookie year, topping 193 km/h in Sun Peaks, Canada, during the 2003 Velocity Challenge. He went on to break the 200 km/h barrier in 2005 and a year later established a new world record for a skier with a disability, clocking 213.65 km/h. 

Not one to rest on his success, Milton turned to a different sport: cycling. In February 2007, after just six months of training, he won the gold medal at the Australian Track Cycling Championships in the 3000m Individual Pursuit and was selected to compete at the World Track Championships, on the way to the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.

Milton’s dream of becoming a Summer Paralympian was sidetracked when he was diagnosed with Esophageal Cancer in July 2007. After undergoing treatment and major surgery, Milton made an amazing comeback and earned himself a spot in the Australian Paralympic team, finally debuting at the Summer Paralympics in Beijing. 

Milton continued on his journey of exploration, training and competing away from the snow, racing in paratriathlon, mountain biking, adventure racing and ultramarathon running. Over the years he climbed Mt Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), walked the Kokoda Trail twice and managed to break the Guinness World Record for the Fastest Marathon on crutches, which he completed in a time of 5:23’20”.

Milton was also assistant Alpine Skiing coach with the Australian Paralympic team at the Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympics. He collected an enormous amount of accolades which include the Order of Australia (1992) and the Australian Sports Medal (2000). He was inducted into the AIS ‘Best of the Best’ Hall of Fame (2001) and into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame (2014).  

With a total of 11 Paralympic medals, Milton is still the most successful Australian Paralympic athlete at the Winter Games.