Mike Shea

Sochi 2014 silver medallist Mike Shea had an impressive 2014-15 season after beating his Paralympic champion teammate Evan Strong in snowboard-cross and banked slalom at two IPC Snowboard World Cups.

The US rider is no stranger to success, but in recent seasons it is Strong who has been in control.

However, since the sport added banked slalom as a discipline and changed the format of snowboard-cross to include a head-to-head format, it is Shea who has been in the driving seat.

He won the very first World Cup titles in banked slalom and head-to-head, sharing history with Strong who won the very first Paralympic gold.

Their friendly rivalry includes Sochi 2014 bronze medallist Keith Gabel, where the trio have nicknamed themselves the ‘Three Amigos’.

Shea was injured in a wakeboarding accident in 2002, losing his left leg after a rope became wrapped around his ankle. He had already tried snowboarding prior to his accident, and driven by his interest in skateboarding, decided to move to Colorado full-time to focus on his career in 2010.

He is also involved as a coach at the National Sports Centre for the Disabled, passing his experience as a top-level athlete onto the next generation.

At the 2015 IPC Para Snowboard World Championships in La Molina, Spain, Shea carried his form into the banked slalom, winning gold ahead of Evan Strong.

In 2017 that title was taken by Finland's Matti-Suur Hamari, another one of Shea's competitors.

With the men's SB-LL2 one the the most unpredictable in Para sport, any one of the current field could spring a surprise at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Paralympic Games.