Para snowboarder targets gold
Between training for months in Whistler, Canada, owning his own business in architectural design in Wanaka and being a father of three, life is a juggling act for Carl Murphy.
Not yet a paralympic medallist, Murphy has had a stellar season leading in to the games in PyeongChang starting on Saturday, and hopes to grab New Zealand’s first paralympic snowboard medal.
The 39-year-old is New Zealand’s first and only para snowboarder to compete at a Winter Paralympics, with the sport being reasonably new to the para roster.
He isn’t concerned about that achievement though, he says the hard yards of missing his family will be worth it only for a medal finish.
‘‘It’s a juggling act. My wife Aliesha does a great job back there (New Zealand). It makes things way easier as she knows this is a once-in-a-lifetime dream to achieve.
‘‘She doesn’t want to get in the way of that. She is supportive as.
‘‘Obviously a gold medal would be awesome. Basically I just want to go out and execute, ride and snowboard the way I know I can snowboard and if I do that, then the result follows. So I just want to leave everything out there.
‘‘Obviously a win is the top goal, but you can’t just focus on winning because that’s when things come undone.’’
Murphy spends a lot of his time in Whistler, where the snow is plentiful and the tracks perfect for his discipline. But with this comes long stints away from family and home in Wanaka. Leading up to these Olympics in South Korea, he spent months apart from his wife and children – at one stage 10 weeks.
‘‘Well, I’ve had a really, really, good buildup since November ... where I could still get home in blocks to spend time with the family.’’
Murphy has been plagued with injury over the past three seasons, but it hasn’t stopped him grabbing a bronze at the world para snowboard cup in Canada and a bronze in 2017 at the same event held in New Zealand.
While he is confident of his form he is taking nothing for granted and realises everything comes down to one day and often just one run.
Murphy was born with half of one leg missing and rides his board with the help of a customdesigned carbon-fibre prosthetic leg. He achieved an impressive fourth place finish in his Paralympic debut in Sochi 2014.
He has been snowboarding for 10 years and is thrilled to be competing at his second Paralympics. Like any highperforming athlete he treats his sport as a job and doesn’t want special treatment because of his disability.
‘‘Like anyone who has a disability, they handle it in different ways and I don’t see myself as any different really. We are high performance athletes.’’