Macmilton "Mac" Marcoux (born 20 June 1997) is a Canadian Paralympic alpine skier who won three titles at the

IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup The World Para Alpine Skiing World Cup (previously called the IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup) is an annual circuit of elite disabled alpine skiing competitions, regulated by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and the International Ski Fede ...

at the age of 15. With guide Robin Femy, he won three medals in alpine skiing at the 2014 Winter Paralympics, including gold in the men's visually impaired giant slalom. He also has numerous awards including being inducted into the

Sault Ste. Marie Walk of Fame The Sault Ste. Marie Walk of Fame is a series of markers located throughout downtown Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. The Walk of Fame is a joint project between the city of Sault Ste. Marie and its Downtown Association, and honours those from t ...

. He has an older brother and a younger sister. He also enjoys riding BMX and mountain bikes.

Personal life

Mac Marcoux was born on 20 June 1997 in

Haviland Bay, Ontario Haviland can refer to: People * Aslaug Haviland (1913–2003), deaf and blind Norwegian woman and motivational speaker * Chris Haviland (born 1952), Australian politician * David B. Haviland (born 1961), Swedish-American physicist * Edna Havilan ...

. He resides there with his parents and two siblings, an older brother and a younger sister. He started skiing at the age of four. He also rode

BMX BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the earl ...

bikes and raced

go-karts A go-kart, also written as go-cart (often referred to as simply a kart), is a type of sports car, close wheeled car, open-wheel car or quadracycle. Go-karts come in all shapes and forms, from non-motorised models to high-performance racing ...

. In 2006, he started losing his sight due to

Stargardt disease Stargardt disease is the most common inherited single-gene retinal disease. In terms of the first description of the disease, it follows an autosomal recessive inheritance pattern, which has been later linked to bi-allelic ABCA4 gene variants (S ...

, a degenerative condition, and became legally blind in 2007. He said: "We've always been a racing family from the beginning. It's how I've grown up. Going fast was just a part of it. The faster you go the more fun it is". After Marcoux had lost his vision, his brother Billy Joe (B.J.) Marcoux decided to put his college education on hold in order to assist him with skiing.

Alpine Canada Alpine Canada (french: Canada Alpin) is the national governing body for alpine, para-alpine and ski cross racing in Canada. Alpine Canada represents coaches, officials, supporters and athletes, including the racers of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team ...

introduced them to a new kind of skiing called Para-Alpine. They were inspired by the McKeever brothers to do visually impaired para-alpine. Other than the Paralympics, his brother B.J. has been his

sighted guide A sighted guide is a person who guides a person with blindness or vision impairment. Sports Paralympic Games At the Paralympic Games there are various classifications of athletes with a visual impairment. Rules are according to the International ...

using radio communication ever since then; something they had never used before.

Para-Alpine career

Marcoux is classified as a B3 (visually impaired) athlete. At the age of 15, he competed at the 2013

Mount Hutt, New Zealand Mount Hutt ( mi, Opuke) rises to the west of the Canterbury Plains in the South Island of New Zealand, above the braided upper reaches of the Rakaia River, and 80 kilometres west of Christchurch. Its summit is 2190 metres above sea level. The Ne ...

, with B.J. as his guide, winning three medals. Later that year he won a silver medal in the

giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant slalom and slalom make up t ...

at the

2013 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships The 2013 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships was an international disability sport alpine skiing event held in La Molina ski resort in Spain from 18 to 27 February 2013. The Championship is held biannually by the International Paralympic Commit ...

in La Molina, Spain, and became the national

Slalom To slalom is to zigzag between obstacles. It may refer to: Sports ;Alpine skiing and/or snowboarding * Slalom skiing, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Giant slalom, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Super-G ...

and giant slalom champion at

Sun Peaks, British Columbia Sun Peaks is a mountain resort municipality in British Columbia, Canada. It was incorporated on June 28, 2010. It is built around Sun Peaks Resort. It is located 55 kilometers northeast of Kamloops and 410 kilometers from Vancouver. The muni ...

2014 Winter Paralympics

The following year he competed in the

2014 Winter Paralympics The 2014 Winter Paralympics (russian: Зимние Паралимпийские игры 2014, Zimniye Paralimpiyskiye igry 2014), the 11th Paralympic Winter Games, and also more generally known as the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, were an ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

as the youngest member of the Canadian Paralympic Team at the age of 16. With Robin Femy as his guide. He won bronze in both the

Downhill Downhill may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Downhill'' (1927 film), a British film by Alfred Hitchcock * ''Downhill'' (2014 film), a British comedy directed by James Rouse * ''Downhill'' (2016 film), a Chilean thriller directed by Patrici ...

and the Super-G, as well as a gold in the giant slalom by over two seconds. "It is the best moment of my life", he said after winning gold. "I can't even explain how amazing this is." Mac and his brother B.J. were inducted into the

on 19 September 2014.

Post-Sochi

At the 2017 World Championships he won gold in the downhill, giant slalom, slalom, and super-G. He also won silver in the super combined.

Other interests

He raced

bikes and

with his brother B.J. before he was blind. After he lost his sight, he fished and also rode mountain bikes at Whistler with a guide using the same kind of radio communication system.

Awards

Marcoux and his brother BJ was presented the H.P. Broughton Trophy and was named into the Sault Ste. Marie Walk of Fame. In October 2014, the brothers were also inducted into the Sault Ste. Marie Sports Hall of Fame by mayor

Debbie Amaroso Debbie Amaroso, née Jannison"Debbie Amaroso: OMG!"

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marcoux, Mac 1997 births Living people Alpine skiers at the 2014 Winter Paralympics Alpine skiers at the 2018 Winter Paralympics Alpine skiers at the 2022 Winter Paralympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Paralympics Medalists at the 2018 Winter Paralympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Paralympics Paralympic alpine skiers for Canada Paralympic bronze medalists for Canada Paralympic silver medalists for Canada Paralympic gold medalists for Canada Canadian male alpine skiers Paralympic medalists in alpine skiing