Sean Pollard (born March 22, 1991) is an Australian

Paralympian The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

who represented Australia in

para-snowboarding Para-snowboarding classification is the classification system for para-snowboarding. The sport originally called Adaptive Snowboard is now practiced by hundreds of athletes around the world. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) defines t ...

at the

2018 Winter Paralympics ) , nations = 49 , athletes = 569 , events = 80 in 6 sports , opening = 9 March , closing = 18 March , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Eun-jung Seo Soon-seok , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic ...

PyeongChang Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seou ...

, South Korea.

Personal

On 2 October 2014, Pollard was attacked by two sharks (possibly great whites) whilst surfing at Kelpids Beach, east of Esperance, Western Australia. He lost his left arm and right hand whilst fighting off the sharks. Before the attack he was an electrician, keen surfer and former South Bunbury footballer. In March 2015, more than $100,000 was raised by his local community in Bunbury, Western Australia to assist him on his new journey.

Career

It was not until 2015 that Pollard encountered snow for the first time during a holiday in Canada. During the holiday, he tried snowboarding. After returning to Australia, he took part in an Australian Paralympic Committee specialist camp for Para-snowboarders with upper limb impairments. Pollard has mentioned that his previous surfing and skating skils have helped his transition into snowboarding. In his first international season, he had several top 15 results including a sixth-place finish in the men's Snowboard Cross at the 2017 IPC Snowboard World Cup at

Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe (; was, Dáʔaw, meaning "the lake") is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada of the United States. Lying at , it straddles the state line between California and Nevada, west of Carson City, Nevad ...

, United States. At the 2016/17 IPC World Cup Finals in PyeongChang, South Korea, Pollard finished eight in the snow board cross and banked slalom. At the

, he competed in two snowboard events - fifth in the Men's Banked Slalom SB-UL and ninth in the Men's Snowboard Cross SB-UL. At the 2019 World Para Snowboard Championships, Pyha, Finland, Pollard won the bronze medal in Men's Snowboard Cross UL and finished seventh in the Men's Banked Slalom UL. Pollard did not compete at the

2022 Winter Paralympics The 2022 Winter Paralympics (), commonly known as Beijing 2022 (), was an international winter multi-sport parasports event held in Beijing, China from 4 to 13 March 2022. This was the 13th Winter Paralympic Games, as administered by the Inte ...

as he decided to remain with his young family in Western Australia due to the States strict COVID travel restrictions.

References

External links

Australian Paralympic Committee Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollard, Sean 1991 births Living people Australian male snowboarders Snowboarders at the 2018 Winter Paralympics Shark attack victims Place of birth missing (living people)