A St. Cloud paralympian won big in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and so have other athletes using prosthetic equipment he designed.
"Monster" Mike Schultz secured a gold medal Monday in snowboard cross, according to a release Monday morning. In that event, multiple snowboarders race through a course with turns and jumps.
Schultz carried the American flag before the 74 members of the U.S. Paralympic Team at the opening ceremony earlier this month.
"It's an incredible feeling," Schultz said in the release. "It's definitely still sinking in a little bit here."
Schultz lost much of his left leg after a 2008 crash in a snocross race. His leg was amputated above the knee. He created his own prosthetic knee, then founded the company BioDapt, Inc. to develop more sports prosthetics.
American Noah Elliot of Missouri shared the podium with Schultz. He earned a bronze medal using the same prosthetic set-up as the St. Cloud athlete. The two competed in the LL1 snowboard cross. Athletes with a significant impairment to one leg compete in the LL1 level.
Brenna Huckaby, of Salt Lake City won gold in the women's LL1 snowboard cross event, wearing Schultz's prosthetic equipment. And Keith Gabel won silver in a different category of men's snowboard cross.
"It's incredible," Schultz said. "The whole reason I got into snowboarding was the development of my prosthetic equipment with my company and my teammate, Noah Elliot."
It's not his first gold. In Landgraaf, Netherlands, Schultz won a gold medal in the banked slalom at the World Para Snowboard World Cup. He learned to snowboard in 2011.
Schultz started racing motocross as a teenager and secured a pro snocross contract in 2003. Shortly after his 2008 crash and recovery he started racing a bike again in adaptive supercross.
He said the Paralympic win marks a highpoint among his achievements.
"This is number one," he said. "I worked so hard for this over the last three and half years. Such a rollercoaster and my biggest thing in my mind is being able to make your best runs when it really matters."
