Paralympic Snowboarder Mike Schultz Retires After Revolutionizing Prosthetics — 95% of Top Athletes Use His Designs

When Mike Schultz crashed his snowmobile during a professional snow-cross race in 2008, the compound fracture to his left knee led to an above-knee amputation. Most people would have stepped away from extreme sports entirely. Schultz instead built a prosthetic leg in his garage that would let him ride again — and in the process, launched a revolution in adaptive athletics.

At the Paralympic Games Milan Cortina 2026, Schultz competed for the final time, finishing sixth in Snowboard Cross. But his impact on the sport extends far beyond his own results. Through BioDapt, the company he founded, Schultz developed the Moto Knee — a prosthetic designed to absorb the massive impacts of action sports — along with ankle frames, binding braces, and other specialized components.

“Most people would have stepped away from extreme sports entirely.”

The numbers speak for themselves: approximately 95 percent of the world's top lower-limb Paralympic snowboard athletes now compete on BioDapt equipment, including the entire U.S. Paralympic snowboard team. Many of these athletes have beaten Schultz himself in competition using his own designs — a fact he celebrates rather than laments.

Following his retirement, Schultz announced a partnership with Autodesk to advance next-generation prosthetic technology, using cutting-edge design software and manufacturing techniques to create even more responsive and durable limbs. The partnership aims to develop prosthetics for para athletes competing at the 2028 Los Angeles Games and beyond.

Schultz's journey from injured athlete to Paralympic medalist to prosthetics innovator embodies the transformative power of sport. His designs have not only leveled the playing field for adaptive athletes but raised the ceiling of what's possible, enabling competitors to push boundaries that would have seemed unimaginable just a decade ago.

As he transitions fully to his engineering role, Schultz's legacy is secure: he didn't just compete in the Paralympics — he equipped an entire generation of athletes to reach their highest potential.