Winter Paralympics: Davey Zio battles MND to make history

Wine merchant Zyw explained that the injury had deprived him of the non-disabled snowboarding career he had longed for since playing the sport on the dry slope in north Edinburgh.

“I’ve been a snowboarder my whole life,” he said. “My twin brother and I started on the Hellend Dry Slope when we were 12 or 13 years old.

“I’ve been obsessed with snowboarding my whole life. A knee injury took me away from the slopes and into a wine career.

“But the fact that I was diagnosed with an incurable degenerative neurological condition took me back to my childhood dream of being a figure skater.”

Zyw only decided to run for the Games in winter 2024 and funded the competition through crowdfunding and employer support.

He added: “There is a tragic beauty in this situation.”

“Above all, what I love about being on my board, being on the slopes, being in that mental competition zone, you know, is that the disability, the daily challenges of MS, and living with this disease are gone, and there’s a lot of freedom there.

“When I fall, when I’m tied up, when I’m in the starting gate, MND may be the reason I’m there, but it can’t be removed more than what I’m thinking about at that moment.

“I’m thinking about the path ahead of me and how I’m going to tear it up the best I can.”