It’s been another four years of hard work and preparation in an even longer career as a professional athlete for Mike Schultz. Schultz was competing professionally while still a student at Kimball Area High School, and his career has grown beyond any imagining ever since – in spite of horrific injuries.
The 2022 Paralympics in Beijing may be the pinnacle of Schultz’s competitive career, but I’d bet a lot of money that it’s not the end. Now 40, he’s hinted that this may be his last Paralympics, but there are several world championships each year, plus the X Games (where he already has 10 gold medals, for both summer and winter).
Schultz competed in two events in the Paralympics that concluded this past weekend: Snowboard Cross and Banked Slalom. As we reported last week, Schultz came from behind in the Snowboard Cross finals to finish in second place from among the four top snowboarders, earning him a Paralympics silver medal (to go with his 2018 Paralympics gold and silver medals).
The Banked Slalom event was moved up a day because of warm weather (which makes for bad snow conditions). Schultz’s first two runs were two of his best. In the finals, however, he finished fifth – a mere 5/100ths of a second behind a podium finish.
“On one hand, I am completely bummed to not be on the box, but I only missed it by a blink of an eye against four other athletes that are wearing equipment I built for them,” Schultz wrote on Facebook that day. “Congrats to the podium finishers Zhongwei Wu (of China), Chris Vos (of Netherlands), Ty Turner (of Canada), and my teammate Noah Elliott for the awesome top-four positions. You guys were rippin’.”
Indeed, 26 Paralympic athletes from 11 countries competed using the BioDapt MotoKnee and VersaFoot – designed by Schultz for amputees who want to continue to compete at their best. Several times during the commentary of this Paralympics, it was mentioned how rare and unusual it was that someone would create these prosthetics that help his competitors perform better. That’s just what the “good guys” do, and Mike Schultz is a living example of a really “good guy.”
Powder Ridge is planning a welcome-home party for Schultz this Saturday, March 19, from 1-3 p.m.
If you haven’t already bought his recently released book “Driven To Ride,” it’s available on http://amazon.com and at the Waite Park Barnes & Noble. Watch for news when he begins his book-signing tour; he’ll certainly have at least one Kimball event.