‘A whirlwind journey’: Sit-skier Kurt Oatway’s fight to return to the Paralympics

In his Calgary home gym, Kurt Oatway is lifting weights and doing pull-ups — part of the final training push before the 2026 Paralympic Games in Italy. 

At age 41, the elite sit-skier shows a steely determination to fight his way back to the top of the world stage after a devastating crash left him severely injured and forced to watch the 2022 Beijing Games at home.

“Before I got into an ambulance, before I got to the hospital, before surgeries and everything, I knew I wasn’t going to China,” Oatway said during an interview at his kitchen table.

The crash at the world championships in Lillehammer, Norway left him with broken bones, torn ligaments and a punctured lung. It happened just weeks before the Paralympics.

“I decided, you know, right there in the hospital, I was just like, ‘This isn’t going to be the end,'” he said.

The disrupting crash became the latest obstacle in Oatway’s journey — a career marked by resilience and perseverance.

From a tiny Sask. hill to Paralympic gold: Kurt Oatway’s journey of resilience

Growing up in Edmonton in a family of skiers, he learned the sport at age five, as an able-bodied athlete. But while studying geology at the University of Saskatchewan, a rock climbing accident in 2007 left him with a permanent spinal cord injury.

Three years later, determined to ski again after watching the Paralympics on television, Oatway turned to the adaptive program at Mission Ridge, a small community hill about 75 kilometres northeast of Regina.

On a clear March day in 2010, he made his first turns in a sit-ski down the 80-metre Saskatchewan slope.

“I kind of just wanted to get back into skiing as a return to normalcy, a semblance of what I was doing before I had gotten injured,” he said.

Fuelled by a competitive spirit, Oatway caught on fast. He quickly advanced from skiing attached by tethers to a coach, to flying down the hill and carving at his own pace — the kind of progress that takes a year for many athletes who are new to the sport.

“I was amazed all day at how fast his development was,” said coach Gord Poulton, who taught Oatway to sit-ski.

“I’m not sure at that point if he knew whether he was going to be a Paralympic skier or not, but we saw the potential.”

At the Mission Ridge lodge, the ski community’s pride in Oatway’s success — and belief in his potential — shows on the walls. Framed bibs from World Cup races, trophies, signed skis and posters are on display.

The Saskatchewan ski community rallied behind the athlete from the start, bringing in an extra coach and helping him purchase his first racing sit-ski. 

Poulton said he saw Oatway find renewed drive and determination on the slopes.

“As you come out of an injury, there’s a lot of relearning to what you can accomplish. And Kurt’s obviously accomplished a lot by coming out and being a skier,” he said.

Lionel Oatway, Kurt’s father, agrees that the return to skiing marked a turning point.

“From a state of despair to a state of triumph, it’s been very motivating for him and also for the family as well,” he said.

Going from a Saskatchewan hill to the world stage meant a big commitment for the entire family. It was a major financial expense to cover equipment, training and travel at ski resorts in Alberta, B.C. and overseas.

Carol Cox, Oatway’s mother, retired early to look after the logistics so Kurt could focus on skiing. 

“Winning wasn’t the big thing. The big thing was him enjoying himself,” she said.

“He’s inspired a lot of people, even though he doesn’t think he does.”

Oatway’s first sit-ski season in Saskatchewan fuelled the start of a racing career with Team Canada, travelling the world to train and compete across North America, Europe and Asia.

He raced to a fifth-place finish in downhill at the 2014 Paralympics in Sochi.

Then in 2018 at the Paralympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, Oatway took the world by surprise with an unexpected gold medal win in sitting super giant slalom (or super-G). The result came after a disappointing ninth-place finish in the downhill event.

“I went from the previous day being utterly crushed to the moon to the top of the world within 24 hours,” he said.

Now focused on getting ready for the Paralympics in Milan and Cortino, which will likely be his last, Oatway remains grateful for his Saskatchewan start.

And he is determined to get back onto the podium.

“It’s been a whirlwind journey, and just knowing where you came from and being grateful for the opportunities goes a long way,” he said.