About Michael Milton
Michael Milton is one of Australia's best-known athletes. His four-gold-medal haul at the Salt Lake Winter Paralympic Games endeared him to a sport-loving nation and earned him the title of Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability.
In April 2003 Michael tried something new: speed skiing, the drag racing of alpine sport. On the steepest slope in the world he clocked over 193km/hr, smashing a 16-year-old world record and becoming the fastest skier with a disability.
Every year after that he bettered his own world record until, in April 2006, he clocked a staggering 213.65km/hr to also become the fastest Australian skier ever. Click here to see a list of Michael's record speeds.
A month earlier at the 2006 Winter Paralympic Games (in his fifth Paralympic Games) Michael's ski racing career came to an end. Under a new, tougher classification system, he won a silver medal in the Downhill, achieving his goal to "...win a medal, any colour." His ski racing medal count stands at eleven Paralympic medals (six gold) and eleven World Championships medals (six gold).
Milton then pursued a new sport: cycling. After six months of intense training, he not only won a gold medal in the 3000m Individual Pursuit at the Australian Track Cycling Championships in February 2007 but also broke the Australian record.
His dream to make the Australian team and compete at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games was sidelined when he was diagnosed with Oesophagael Cancer in July 2007. He then made an amazing comeback from this serious illness to record times at the 2008 Australian Track Cycling Championships comparable to his results in the same events 12 months before.
In June 2008 Michael was named as one of 18 athletes in the Paralympic Cycling Team to compete in Beijing. His sixth Paralympic Games and his first as a summer athlete, he arrived in Beijing less than 12 months since chemotherapy radiotherapy and major surgery. In many ways, he'd already won. Michael competed in three events - the 1km Time Trial and the 300m Individual Pursuit on the track and the 60.5km Road Race.
Michael has raced in the Mark Webber Challenge, a five-day adventure race in Tasmania and in the 293km long Coast to Coast Kokoda Challenge. He has climbed Mt Kilimanjaro and walked Kokoda twice.
He has also competed in triathlon, representing Australia at two World Paratriathlon Championships, finishing fourth in China in 2011.
Michael has also completed a marathon on crutches. Aiming to break the existing Guinness World Record for Fastest Marathon on Crutches (one leg) which stood at 6 hours, 42:47, Michael completed the distance in a time of 5 hours, 23:50. The record is yet to be ratified. Watch his marathon story here.
In May 2017, Michael tackled his first ultra-marathon - the Ultra-Trail Australia 50km race in the Blue Mountains. It's tough terrain when you're running on crutches but he finished the course in just over 12 hours, and only 10 hours active running time.
In 2018 he set his third world record - running 5km on crutches in just over 32 minutes (32:13.69).
These days, Michael describes himself as a 'weekend warrior' running and cycling in charity events and for fitness and fun. He also enjoys sailing, rollerblading and, of course, skiing with friends and his teenge kids.
He also has a new business. Michael owns and operates two retail stores (in Canberra and Sydney) dedicated to finding and stocking the most magical licensed Harry Potter™ merchandise. He's known as Nearly Legless Mick at Quizzic Alley Drop in sometime and say hi.
Michael John Milton
Born: 1973, Canberra
Lives: Canberra, Australia
