TOBY KANE

 

 

Discipline: Para Alpine

Paralympic Participation: Torino 2006, Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014

At the age of two, Toby lost his lower right leg after being run over by a car on the footpath. He took up skiing because his aunt and uncle owned a chalet in Smiggins.

Toby 's talent was identified whilst skiing at Smiggins and he was invited to join the Australian Winter Paralympic Development team when he was 11. At the age of 19, Toby was the youngest member of the Australian team at 2006 Winter Paralympics in Torino. Classified as LW2, he won a bronze medal in the men's super G. He also competed in the downhill, coming 9th; slalom, coming 16th; and the giant slalom, in which he did not finish.

At the 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver, Toby competed in five events – downhill, coming tenth, giant slalom placing tenth, slalom, coming eleventh, and super combined and super G, in which he did not finish. He had the honour of being Australia's flag bearer at two Winter Paralympic Games – carrying the flag at the closing ceremony in Torino, and at the opening ceremony in Vancouver.

Toby won a bronze medal in the men's super G LW2 at the 2004 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships in Wildschönau, Austria. After a break from sport, he returned to the slopes at the 2011 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships in Sestriere, Italy, where he won a bronze medal in the slalom after posting a string of frustrating fourth places in the downhill, super G and super combined. During the 2011/12 IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup season, he won another bronze in the giant slalom, and during the 2012/13 season, won a gold, two silvers and a bronze medal at the 2012 North America Cup. He followed this up with bronze in the giant slalom in the World Cup series.

Toby was an AIS and NSWIS scholarship holder from 2002 to 2014. In 2011, he received a Sport Achievement Award from the Australian Institute of Sport.

Toby competed in five events at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, winning a bronze medal in the men's super G. It was Australia's first medal at the Sochi Games. On winning his bronze medal, he announced that he would retire at the conclusion of the Games, ending his career on a high note. He went on to finish fourth in the men's slalom standing and sixth in the men's downhill standing, and failed to finish in two events. Towards the end of the Games, Toby was named as a winner of the Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award, which is presented at every Paralympic Games for outstanding performances and overcoming adversity.

Toby announced his retirement following the 2014 Paralympics, with the intent to pursue a career in medicine.

    Return to list