When Mike Schultz lost his left leg above the knee in a snowmobiling accident, doctors told him the amputation was the only way he would survive. He was 27, a top-level athlete who had competed in motorsports since his teenage years, and the idea of stopping was something his mind simply refused to accept. Within weeks of his surgery, he was sneaking short rides on his snowmobile, and he quickly realized that the standard prosthetic he had been fitted with was designed for walking, not for the explosive demands of high-intensity sport. So, with no engineering training at all, he went into his garage and started building one himself. Five weeks later, using a mountain bike shock absorber and other creative materials, he had built the Moto Knee, and less than a year after losing his leg he was placing second at the ESPN Summer X Games wearing a prosthetic he had made with his own hands.
That invention became the foundation for BioDapt, a company Schultz founded to design athletic prosthetics for amputees who refuse to step back from the sports they love. His first customer was Walter Reed Medical Center, where he fitted veterans with combat injuries, and his products now support roughly 90 percent of lower-limb athletes globally who compete in para snowboarding. He went on to become a two-time Paralympic medalist himself, winning gold and two silvers while competing on a board with his prosthetic leg forward. At the Milano-Cortina Winter Paralympics, Schultz competed at age 44 for the third and final time, with about 25 athletes from multiple countries competing in the same events wearing equipment he personally designed and built. After the Games he will retire from competition and devote himself entirely to BioDapt, helping the next generation of Paralympic athletes prepare for Los Angeles in 2028.
Source: https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/mike-schultz-paralympics-prosthetics
