Paralympic Pro
“Being born with a disability, I was growing up in the hospital,” says Zach Miller. The two-time Paralympian spoke with TIME for Kids on March 4, before the 2026 Winter Paralympics, in Italy. There, more than 650 athletes, each with a disability, would compete across 79 events in six sports.
Miller is a Para snowboarder. As a kid, he was introduced to skiing by a program at his hospital. Later, he found snowboarding and “fell in love with it,” he says. It wasn’t just the sport: It was the people. “I found some other disabled athletes that were pursuing snowboarding,” he says. “Really quickly, it became a focus on community.”
The Games matter to Miller. “This is the one opportunity I get every four years to show the world how good people with disabilities can be at snowboarding,” he says. “The results, to me, don’t matter as much as creating something exciting and contributing to races that get people talking about our sport.”
Next Generation
Miller advises kids who want to be professional athletes not to focus solely on results. “I love winning races, love bringing home medals,” he says. But he found a way to love training and “the hours in the gym,” as well: “The most important thing is falling in love with the daily bits that turn you into the athlete or person that you want to be.”
Miller connects with the next generation of athletes through social media and programs for athletes with a disability. He’s a coach at Adaptive Action Sports, which offers snowboarding training for people with permanent physical disabilities. Miller also joined a Classroom Champions event on February 27. More than 300 students cheered for him and fellow Paralympians Dani Aravich and Michaela Gosselin.
“Time is your most valuable resource,” Miller says. “[Find] what it is that you love and are passionate about and [decide] for yourself that you’re going to make that a more consistent part of your life.”
