Curtis
McGrath

Curtis McGrath was serving as an Australian Army combat engineer in Afghanistan in 2012 when he stepped on an improvised explosive device and lost his right leg above the knee and left leg below the knee. He was fighting shock, blood loss and excruciating pain, but Curtis made a vow then that when he recovered, he would represent his country at the Paralympic Games.

Mere months after starting in Para-canoe, Curtis put the world on notice with a gold medal on debut at the 2014 International Canoe Federation (ICF) Canoe Sprint World Championships in Moscow, Russia, and on high alert when he defended it the following year in Milan, Italy.

At the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, Curtis went head-to-head with six-time world champion Markus Swoboda (AUT). Although Markus took an early lead, Curtis dug deep, closed the gap, then pulled ahead, earning Australia’s first gold medal in Para-canoe at the Paralympic Games and top honours at the 2016 World Paddle Awards as the 2016 Sportsman of the Year.

Ever the man with a trick up his sleeve, Curtis won a national title in Para-rowing in 2017, before resetting his focus to Para-canoe in time to defend his world titles at the 2017 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Račice, Czech Republic. He clocked his seventh and eighth world titles in 2018, and his ninth and 10th in 2019.

At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Curtis made history by becoming the first para-canoe athlete to win two gold medals at a Paralympic Games. He was able to defend his KL2 Paralympic title, claiming the gold with a time of 0:41.426. In the 200m VL3 final, Curtis won another gold in the inaugural va’a discipline with a time of 0:50.537.