Cortina d’Ampezzo (Italy) (AFP) - Rapolas Micevicius’ life was flipped upside-down in 2021 when a freak kitesurfing accident shattered his left leg, leaving doctors no choice but to amputate the lower half.

Now less than five years later, the Lithuanian is competing at the Milan-Cortina Paralympics in the men’s snowboarding and living his dream of being a professional athlete in the winter and a kitesurf instructor in the summer.

After his accident, Micevicius learnt to adjust to living with a prosthetic limb and quit his comfortable job in Vilnius to roam the rugged mountains of Italy and hone his snowboarding skills.

“I quit my office job to do this (snowboarding) because we don’t have mountains in Lithuania,” 35-year-old Micevicius told AFP on Sunday after he missed out on a semi-final spot in the men’s snowboard cross event.

“We live in Italy, but there’s a lot of training camps, so I’m barely home, even though my girlfriend is also in Italy with our dog, she sometimes travels around with me, but mainly we’re on the road.”

And that gamble has paid off, with Micevicius becoming the first Lithuanian to qualify for a Winter Paralympics since 1994.

He explained that three years ago, he set himself “this goal to be in Paralympics”.

If he has achieved that, he still hoped for more after coming into the Games on the back of a fine season, which garnered him many of the yellow-clad supporters cheering him on from the sidelines of the San Zan course in Cortina.

“During the year I had really good results, so I had confidence that I can actually go far, not as far as this (quarter-finals), but way further, maybe even big finals or something,” he said.

“I need to go back three years ago where my initial goal was, because, you know, you can chew sometimes bigger than what you can chew, so I think that’s the case, but it is what it is.”

Micevicius still has the men’s snowboard banked slalom to look forward to but admitted next Saturday’s event is “not (his) strong suit”.

Until then he said his aim is to “chill, relax, be with the family, friends, analyse what happened, maybe not too early, but take a couple of days off”.

However, Micevicius already has one eye on his next “big goal”: the 2030 Winter Paralympics, which will take place in the French Alps.

- ‘Good vibes’ -

When the weather turns and snowboarding is no longer a possibility, Micevicius returns to his native Lithuania to teach at the kitesurfing school he founded last year.

“It’s an open kite school, we train kids, adults, everyone from around the country, some foreigners come over too,” Micevicius said.

“I love seeing people enjoying the sport, it gives a lot of good vibes.”

Micevicius added that one of the main pleasures he takes from his work is seeing “how people change” when they do something outside of their norm.

“They get confidence, they accomplish new things while kitesurfing,” he said.

Asked which he prefers between wintering in Italy with his snowboard or summering at Lithuania’s Curonian Lagoon, Micevicius refused to be drawn.

“Both seasons, I love it,” he said.

“It’s different, this is sport, professional, so, you know, healthy lifestyle. Lithuania for me is a little bit more relaxed.”

He added he planned to spend a bit more time in his home country as he is in the process of building a home near his kitesurfing school for himself, his girlfriend and their poodle, D’Artagnan.

“We see our future there, and during the summer, I mean, I’m an athlete from winter, so I need something to be busy with during the summers,” Micevicius said.