It?Äôs been a season of ups and downs for Mike Schultz this year, both literally and figuratively.
In November, he won his first World Cup Banked Slalom event in the Netherlands, and was named to the 2018 U.S. Paralympic team in snowboard.
Last week he was in Aspen, Colo., preparing for the X Games in both Boardercross (snowboard) and Adaptive Snocross (snowmobile). And things were looking great in both fields.
The Boardercross competition was Friday, Jan. 23. In the first round, Schultz landed a 55-foot jump and shattered his heel, his ?Äúhuman?Äù heel, not his prosthetic. That was it for his 2015 X Games dreams. For now, he?Äôll have to be content with his six previous
X Games gold medals.
By Sunday, the day of the Snocross competition, Schultz was able to sit up, lower leg casted, to watch his fellow competitors from the couch.
No doubt. this is just another temporary setback. A painful one, but temporary. He faces surgery and a long recovery time.But he bounced back from a devastating snowmobile racing accident just over eight years ago; he lost his left leg, above the knee, as a result of those injuries. But he bounced back quickly, and became an entrepreneur designing and manufacturing specialized sports prosthetics.
We all wish him a speedy recovery, and a quick return to all the sporting activities that rock his world.
There?Äôs a great article on Schultz in the Denver Post. Go to denverpost.com and search for ?ÄúMike Schultz.?Äù