Patrick Mayrhofer

Patrick Mayrhofer
Personal information
Nationality Austrian
Born (1987-09-15) 15 September 1987
Helfenberg, Upper Austria
Sport
Sport Snowboarding
Disability class SB-UL
Event(s) Snowboard cross,
Banked slalom
Coached by Jean-Claude Keipes
Medal record
Winter Paralympic Games
2018 PyeongChang Banked slalom
World Para-Snowboard Championships
2015 La Molina Banked slalom

Patrick Mayrhofer (born 15 September 1987)[1] is an Austrian prosthetics technician and Paralympic snowboarder.[1] He won gold in the banked slalom at the 2015 World Para-Snowboard Championships.

Biography

Born in Helfenberg, Upper Austria in 1987,[2] Mayrhofer had been snowboarding since childhood.[1] He worked as an electrician until an accident in February 2008, when he touched a 6000-volt power line, causing serious injury to his left hand and resulting in him losing his right thumb and part of a right finger. After unsuccessful attempts to reconstruct his left hand, it was amputated around 17 cm (6.7 inches) below the elbow in July 2010.[1] At the same time, he was fitted with a groundbreaking prosthesis, known as a "Michelangelo Hand",[3][4] This allows Mayrhofer to control the fine motor skills in the same way as non-amputees do,[5] as a result of sensor electrodes detecting signals in nerves within the lower arm.[3] Working with Dr Oskar Aszmann at the University of Vienna and prosthesis technology company Ottobock, Mayrhofer became the first patient in the world to undergo elective amputation and receive a bionic prosthesis,[2][3][5] which re-enabled him to open bottles, tie shoelaces and brush his teeth within a short period of time.[1][5] After the amputation, he worked closely with Ottobock's R&D department giving feedback to the engineers; in 2013 he joined the company, helping their customers learn to use their own prostheses.[6]

Paralympic sport

Visiting a prosthetics trade show in 2012, Mayrhofer saw a stall run by the Austrian Paralympic Committee, which led to him deciding to pursue para-snowboarding.[1][4] At the 2015 Para-Snowboard World Championships at La Molina, Spain, Mayrhofer won the gold medal in banked slalom[7] and came fifth in snowboard cross.[8] He was named the Paralympic Austrian Sports Personality of the Year (German: Behindertensportler des Jahres) in 2015.[2]

In the 2018 Winter Paralympics, he competed in both snowboarding events, coming fifth in snowboard cross on 12 March[9] but then winning the silver medal in banked slalom four days later.[10]

Competition history

Date Location Competition Placing Discipline Class Team Best time Ref
24 February 2015 Spain La Molina, Spain World Championships 5 Snowboard cross SB-UL  Austria 55.32 [8]
28 February 2015 Spain La Molina, Spain World Championships 3rd, bronze medalist(s) Banked slalom SB-UL  Austria 1:31.65 [7]
12 March 2018 South Korea Jeongseon, South Korea Winter Paralympics 5 Snowboard cross SB-UL  Austria 1:01.04 [9]
16 March 2018 South Korea Jeongseon, South Korea Winter Paralympics 2nd, silver medalist(s) Banked slalom SB-UL  Austria 51.36 [10]

Personal life

Mayrhofer is married.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Athlete Profile — Patrick MAYRHOFER". PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 "Mayrhofer ist Behindertensportler des Jahres". MeinBezirk.at (in German). 4 November 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 Sruthi Pinnameneni (6 July 2011). "Europe's first bionic hand still going strong a year on". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  4. 1 2 "Patrick Mayrhofer". Ottobock. 13 March 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 Neil Bowdler (18 May 2011). "Bionic hand for 'elective amputation' patient". BBC News Online. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  6. ↑ "Pilots of the Cybathlon: Patrick Mayrhofer". Cybathlon, ETH Zurich. 5 June 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  7. 1 2 "2015 IPCAS Para Snowboard World Championships La Molina: Men's banked slalom SB-UL". International Paralympic Committee. 28 February 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  8. 1 2 "2015 IPCAS Para Snowboard World Championships La Molina: Men's snowboard cross SB-UL". International Paralympic Committee. 24 February 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  9. 1 2 "Medals and Ranking — Men's Snowboard Cross SB-UL". PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games. 12 March 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  10. 1 2 "Medals and Ranking — Men's Banked Slalom SB-UL". PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games. 16 March 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
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