Paralympic cycling champion Jon-Allan Butterworth sets sights on Winter Games as a snowboarder

“Today I saw someone going down on a snowboard in a frame and they didn't even use their legs”, said Paralympic cycling champion, Jon-Allan Butterworth. “They used their body weight and their arms to tilt the snowboard on a frame. I didn't even know this existed. There’s not many barriers now in this modern life to do any sport”.

Jon-Allan Butterworth was on the slopes at The Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead this week where a selection of summer ParalympicsGB athletes and disabled participants were attempting new winter sports. With the Winter Paralympics ongoing in Beijing, ParalympicsGB's summer teammates were attending the event to show their support for their Winter ParalympicsGB colleagues.

The 2016 Paralympic Cycling Champion and three time silver medallist at London 2012 has himself transitioned to the sport of snowboarding after 12 years in elite cycling.

Jon-Allan was born in Birmingham and joined the RAF at the age of 16 as a weapons engineer. He went to Afghanistan in 2005 and to Iraq in 2007, which is where he was injured at the age of 21. His arm was injured by shrapnel and had to be amputated to save his life.

During his rehabilitation at Headley Court he took part in cycling and was talent spotted by the British elite para-cycling team. He was medically discharged from the military and became a full time Paralympic athlete, funded by The National Lottery.

“Without The National Lottery, I wouldn’t have been able to do cycling full time and without doing it full time, I wouldn’t have been able to succeed at the top,” he said.

"In cycling, I won or came second in nearly every race I competed in during my career, but even when second, I was within one percent of the winning time and these are the margins you are