🎿 EXCLUSIVE CHAT: Michael Milton (Paralympic Skier)

The incredible Michael Milton joins Jonesy & Amanda ahead of the Winter Paralympic games.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jersey and Amanda jam Nation.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Our next guest has gone through more in one lifetime
than most of us will ever have to endure. And
what a champion. He lost his leg when he was
just nine years old. He survived cancer three times, but
Michael Milton is proof that nothing will stop him. He's
become one of the most decorated alpine skiers in Paralympic history.
Tomorrow he's heading off to prepare well the next Winter

(00:23):
Games in February. They're in the Beautiful was it? Malana
Kutina Beausuly Michael joins us Now.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Hi Michael, good morning guys.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
Great to have you on the show.

Speaker 4 (00:32):
We were just talking about your Danhill ski record at
two hundred and thirteen kilometers per hour.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Is that for someone with one leg or is that
for everyone?

Speaker 3 (00:42):
That's an open world record for an athlete with disability,
a world record for athletic disability, and an open Australian record,
So Australia's fast as seven scire.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Wow, Michael, that sounds terrifying to me. Is it ever
scary for you?

Speaker 3 (00:56):
Absolutely? Yeah, of course He's standing at a time for
this big snow covered mountain and it's nearly vertical and
you know you're going faster than you've ever been before. Yeah. Absolutely,
It's one of the key skills of skiing at that
speed is to be able to take that fear and
lock it into the back of the mind. So yeah,

(01:18):
definitely unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
When you were nine and you lost your leg, was
it sport that got you through? How did you find
your way through? That's a tough thing for a nine
year old.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
Definitely tough for a nine year old. But you know,
I think the adaptability of being that age is a
real positive. But certainly, I mean skiing had a big
part of it for me because it was one of
the first questions I asked when they said we're going
to have to take your leg off, I'm like, well, well,
I'm still be aboule to go skiing. And it was
a long time ago. So my parents brought me a

(01:49):
VHS videotape a couple of weeks later of a guy
on one leg skiing and all through the worst time
of cancer. That would be what I would kind of
imagine myself doing. And having that dream I think had
an immensely positive impact on the outcome of the treatment
and of course life since.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Then, and you've had more batts with cancer since then.
They may it must be seen do.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
The short straw on this one, because wouldn't.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
You think, Okay, right here, I've got this. It's extraordinary
what you've been through.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah, it's definitely you know, a part of my life.
And after three different cancers in with three different locations, Yeah,
it's kind of you know. One of the motivations that
has come back to skiing after being out of the
parallelmic games for twenty years. I raised my last one
in two thousand and six is definitely the fact that

(02:46):
after three cancers it's probably more win rather than if
for the fourth one, and really just wanting to di
squeeze the marrow out of life and do things that
are fun and make the most of the time that
I have.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
How tough is it to come back after twenty years
out of competitive work like this?

Speaker 3 (03:04):
I mean it's tough on lots of levels. You know,
I'm pretty fortunate that, you know, I had a long
competitive career. You know. Skinning in many ways for me
is like walking. You strap it on. It just kind
of happens without too much thinking. It's a great sport
because there's an athletic component definitely, and at fifty two
years old, I'm not the same athlete that I was

(03:26):
twenty years ago. But there's also that kind of gravity
is driving you rather than your muscles and your body.
So it is the sort of thing that you can
do to a high level to at an older age.
So there's definitely physical things like you know, my leg's
been sore for months, just getting back into the gym

(03:47):
and developing strength again, and then you know, and then
of course, particularly at fifty two years old, there there's
other things consider in terms of my business and my
family and how that all work. So I'm pretty fortunate that,
you know, with nineteen and seventeen year old kids can
I can bribe them with a trip to Italy and

(04:08):
they're pretty happy. But you know, my wife running our
business while I'm away. These sorts of things are all
just a part of that juggle.

Speaker 4 (04:17):
Well, Michael, we just wish you all the best, and
you're doing it for us. We're just so proud of you, mate.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
You know, I'm doing it for lots of reasons. I'm
doing it. You know, I've got to admit that as
an athlete, there's always selfish components there and then that's
as an athlete in some ways a positive part of things.
But you know, thank you very much for the chat
and for following my journey.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
Absolutely, Michael.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
All the best are you going to do is just
go downhill really quick. That's all you have to do.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah, you just point it down the hill, don't think.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
And close your eyes. Maybe not quite, no, Michael Milton.
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Thanks guys, we'll be following you, Michael, thank you.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
Follow Yeah, Michael's journey