Andrew Kurka
Andrew Kurka’s Paralympics have come to a premature and disappointing end.
But he wants everyone to know this is not the end of his exceptional career.
Kurka, of Palmer, placed fourth in Friday’s opening race, the men’s sitting downhill in which he was the defending Paralympic champion. He missed a medal by less than a tenth of a second.
But that’s only the start of the story.
Kurka, 30, revealed afterwards that just an hour before the race near Beijing, China, heavy winds blew him into a fence on the training course. X-rays would reveal he’d broken his humerus (upper arm bone) and thumb.
Kurka was physically and mentally impacted — but raced anyways.
“(I was) unable to maneuver my body the way I wanted to,” Kurka wrote on Facebook, adding that he felt it was unsafe for organizers to hold the event. “My time didn’t reflect the skill and work that I have put into these games.”
In a follow-up post on Monday, Kurka shared two photos: one of him just before the race, and another during it, when he said he competed “with “tears filling my goggles.”
Palmer’s Andrew Kurka just before the 2022 Paralympics Downhill after injuring his hand and shoulder.
“It wasn’t necessarily the pain that got to me. I was anticipating these games with everything I had. Excited to compete with everything I could. I had amazing support, amazing coaches and amazing friends backing me up. The best sitski on the planet and the most amazing sponsors any athlete could ask for,” Kurka wrote. “It was the fact that just moments before these photos were taken I broke my right shoulder and right thumb. Pretty badly and I knew that this was going to be my only chance in this games and I knew it wasn’t a good one.”
Kurka put the pain and disappointment aside as best he could, completing the perilous course in 1 minute, 18.37 seconds. He was in bronze medal position until Taiki Morii of Japan edged him in 1:18.29.
Known for his fearlessness, injuries are nothing new for Kurka. At age 13 in 2005, Kurka was partially paralyzed from an all-terrain vehicle accident that damaged three vertebrae in his spinal cord. Two years later he became a para-alpine skier and in 2014, he qualified for the Sochi Paralympics. However, he was unable to compete due to a broken back suffered just days before those games. Over the years, Kurka has also broken his femur, ankle and ribs in other crashes.
And just a few weeks before the 2022 Paralympics, Kurka’s ski binding broke without warning on a downhill training run at 60 miles per hour. He landed face first and broke his nose.
“A full recovery just in time for the (Paralympic) games is expected,” Kurka said on Facebook. “But dang my noggin sure does hurt.”
Kurka during the 2022 Paralympics Downhill.
Kurka has a unique outlook on fear.
“Some say the ability to overcome the fear is what makes them good,” Kurka said in a 2020 article at Paralympic.org. “For me, I just do not have the fear.”
That said, Kurka dialed back his previous all-or-nothing approach that often resulted in either crashing or winning the race. By taking a little less risk, Kurka learned he could finish more races and still collect plenty of podiums.
Amid his setbacks, Kurka has also had tremendous success highlighted by two Paralympics medals in 2018 and five World Championships medals, including a bronze this January in Lillehammer, Norway.
Kurka is among the highest-profile athletes on the U.S. Team and was featured on the cover of the Sports Illustrated edition previewing the Paralympics. He was billed as a medal contender at four Paralympics events in Beijing: the downhill, Super G, Super Combined and giant slalom.
Newly married to Veronica Quezada, Kurka is now leaving the Olympic Village early “with a heavy heart” but wants everyone to know he will return. He would be 34 years old for the next Paralympics in 2026 in Italy.
“BUT I AM GRATEFUL. Because I was broken, but I wasn’t BEATEN. I pushed out of that start. I gave it my all and I HAVE NO REGRETS. 4th place? Yeah I’ll take it, 4th in the world with a broken shoulder and hand,” Kurka wrote. “We’ll see what 4 more years has to offer. Because I’m not going out like this. This post is a reminder to myself and a promise to those reading it. That I’ll be back. Count on it.”