Industry News
Noah Elliott, a U.S. Paralympic snowboarder, won the ESPY for “Best Athlete With a Disability” on Wednesday in Los Angeles, California. The award show, hosted by ESPN, honors the best athletes and moments in sports and is Elliott’s first ESPY win. It was also his first time being nominated.
Elliott, who had his left leg amputated after a battle with cancer, was first named to the U.S. national team in 2016, just a year after he strapped into a snowboard for the first time after being inspired by the Sochi Paralympics. “I want you to know that I am a survivor and you can be one too, and there can be a life past cancer or disability,” he said. “Just continue to get out there and put your best foot forward and try to continue to strive to be the best you can be,” Elliott added when accepting the ESPY.
Elliott is coming off one of the best seasons of his career, winning two FIS Para snowboard Crystal Globes, two World Championship medals, and 100% of the World Cup banked slalom events he competed in. “We are thrilled for Noah’s first ESPY win,” Goldschmidt said. “Noah has achieved a great deal in his sport and is a best-in-class athlete on and off the snow. His dedication to Para snowboarding is incredible to watch and I am so proud to have him recognized on this stage of sport,” Sophie Goldschmidt, the president and CEO of U.S. Ski and Snowboard, said in a press release.
According to Team USA, Noah Elliott grew up in St. Charles, Missouri, with aspirations of becoming a professional skateboarder, hoping to follow in the footsteps of Nyjah Huston, Sean Malto, and Torey Pudwill. At the age of 15, after a skateboard event, he experienced some leg pain. He was eventually diagnosed with cancer, resulting in his left leg being amputated above the knee due to the osteosarcoma. Afterwards, he went to Colorado as part of a trip for children with cancer, where he met Brenna Huckaby, a fellow osteosarcoma survivor, who inspired him to make the switch to snowboarding.
Less than two years later, Elliott made his Paralympic debut at the Winter Paralympic Games PyeongChang 2018 and won two medals, including gold in banked slalom. Elliott would become a world champion in the banked slalom and snowboard cross before the next Winter Paralympics, when he competed at the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and did not medal in either event, partly because he competed with a wound on his residual limb that didn’t heal before the Games.
Elliott is a single father to his teenage daughter, Skyler, who, like her dad, enjoys the outdoors, including camping and snowboarding.
Paralympic Experience
- 2-time Paralympian; 2-time Paralympic medalist (1 gold, 1 bronze)
- Paralympic Games Beijing 2022, 4th (Banked Slalom – Lower Limb 1 Impaired – Men), 6th (Snowboard Cross – Lower Limb 1 Impaired – Men)
- Paralympic Games Pyeongchang 2018, gold (Banked Slalom – Lower Limb 1 Impaired – Men), bronze (Snowboard Cross – Lower Limb 1 Impaired – Men)
World Championships Experience
- Most recent: 2025 – silver (Snowboard Cross – Lower Limb 1 Impaired – Men), bronze (Banked Slalom – Lower Limb 1 Impaired – Men), 4th (Snowboard Cross Team Event – Mixed)
- Years of participation: Banked Slalom – Lower Limb 1 Impaired – Men 2019, 2022, 2025; Snowboard Cross – Lower Limb 1 Impaired – Men 2019, 2023, 2025; Snowboard Cross Team Event – Mixed 2025; Dual Banked Slalom – Lower Limb 1 Impaired – Men 2023; Snowboard Cross Team Event – Men 2019, 2023
- Medals: 9 (3 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze)
- Gold – 2023 (Dual Banked Slalom – Lower Limb 1 Impaired – Men); 2022 (Banked Slalom – Lower Limb 1 Impaired – Men); 2019 (Snowboard Cross – Lower Limb 1 Impaired – Men)
- Silver – 2025 (Snowboard Cross – Lower Limb 1 Impaired – Men); 2023 (Snowboard Cross – Lower Limb 1 Impaired – Men, Snowboard Cross Team Event – Men); 2019 (Banked Slalom – Lower Limb 1 Impaired – Men)
- Bronze – 2025 (Banked Slalom – Lower Limb 1 Impaired – Men); 2019 (Snowboard Cross Team Event – Men)
