Davy Zyw to make history as first MND athlete at Winter Paralympics
Edinburgh snowboarder Davy Zyw has been named in the Team GB squad for the Milan-Cortina Games, set to become the first snowsport athlete with motor neurone disease to compete at a Winter Paralympics.
The 38-year-old has defied medical expectations to secure his spot on the team for the event beginning on 6 March.
Zyw was diagnosed with the incurable life-shortening condition in 2018 and was initially given a prognosis of just two years.
‘Accepting the impossible’
The Scot works as a wine merchant and funded his bid for the Games through crowdfunding and employer support.
Speaking in a video released by Team GB, he described the journey as a battle against the odds.
“Essentially, I was told I had two or three years to live,” Zyw said.
“I’m seven years on and I’ve just fought my way up the ladder to get on the team at the Paralympics.”
He believes his selection sends a powerful message about resilience.
“I’ve had to accept the impossible, accept my fate,” he added.
“But, within that, there was a freedom. A freedom that nothing is impossible and that’s the message I want people to take away.”
A tragic beauty
A knee injury had previously curtailed Zyw’s hopes of an able-bodied career after he started on dry slopes near Edinburgh as a teenager.
He admits there is a profound irony in his path to the Milan-Cortina Games.
“The fact my diagnosis of being with an incurable degenerative neurological condition has brought me back to my childhood dream of being a snowboarder,” he said.
“There’s like a tragic beauty in this situation.”
Focus on the slopes
Zyw only decided to formally put himself forward for selection in the winter of 2024.
Despite the daily physical challenges of MND, he finds release when competing.
“Above all, what I love about being on my board… the daily challenges of MND, of living with this disease are gone,” he explained.
“When I’m dropping in, when I’m strapping, when I’m in the starting gate, MND is, it might be the reason I’m there, but it couldn’t be further removed from what I’m thinking about in that moment.”
“I’m thinking about the course in front of me and how I’m going to rip down it the best I can.”