Aaron McCarthy

Aaron McCarthy has taken to Para snowboarding like a duck to water.  

After making his Australian debut in The Netherlands in November 2024, Aaron secured his first race win in Austria the next January and stunned his competitors by winning the European Cup overall standings for his classification that season. The string of outstanding results, including three podium finishes, put Aaron on the fast track for a debut appearance at the Paralympic Games, in Milano Cortina. 

Aaron acquired his impairment in 2021 when he was 27. The heavy vehicle mechanic had gone to fix a harvesting machine on the farm when his left leg became caught, leading to amputation above the knee. He spent two weeks in hospital, was walking again in three months and spent the next several months in rehabilitation.  

At a mobility clinic on the snow in 2022, he learnt to snowboard alongside Paralympian Joany Badenhorst and, as he described it, “I was hooked”.  

“I decided that I was given a new opportunity to do something special and that I wanted to compete successfully for Australia at the Paralympics,” Aaron said.  

The next season, with advice from Snow Australia, Aaron attended development camps and was included in the Snow Australia Emerging Talent Program, setting up his chance to compete internationally.  

Aaron is a James Bond film fan, a self-described “small town country bloke” and he hopes to be still farming and competing in Para sports in 10 years’ time.