Ukraine conflict stirs flashbacks for US Paralympic skier

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Paralympic ski racer Jasmin Bambur watches the images out of Ukraine — rumbling tanks, explosions, families fleeing for safety — and the flashbacks arrive.

Back to three decades ago, when he and his family escaped the conflict in the former Yugoslavia.

“The sound [of war],” the athlete said, “you don’t forget that.”

Bambur made it from Bosnia to Serbia and eventually to the US, where he was working on his degree and training for team handball when a car crash left him paralysed from the waist down.

He battled depression, discovered Alpine ski racing, represented Serbia at the 2010 Winter Paralympics and gained US citizenship.

This week in China, he's chasing an elusive medal at his fourth Paralympic Games.

“Fourth time’s the charm,” said Bambur, who finished 16th in the men’s sitting classification of the giant slalom Thursday in Beijing, with another medal chance this weekend in slalom.

“This gold medal, it’s been one of those unicorns that I just haven’t been able to attain yet.”

Bambur's childhood memories flooded back with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. His family fled Bosnia in the 1990s when war was breaking out, taking only a few belongings with them.

They relocated to Serbia, where jobs and money were scarce for his mum and dad.

He found an outlet through team handball, a sport that combines elements of basketball and football. When he reached military age, his family sent him to the US.

The athlete attended what’s now Middle Georgia State University and trained for the handball team.

Fireworks go off during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Japan on Sunday, September 9. Getty

On January 13, 2000, Bambur was