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Last week, the greatest athletes in the world descended on Los Angeles for the ESPYs, sports’ answer to the Oscars. Gymnast Simone Biles shimmered in blue. Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman rocked a tan double-breasted suit. Skier Lindsey Vonn, though hungover, looked stunning in a plum dress with a daring slit. And perhaps the most dominant athlete of all walked his first red carpet in maroon.
In 2013, Noah Elliott was a 16-year-old living in St. Louis, Missouri, with dreams of becoming a professional skateboarder when he was diagnosed with a type of bone cancer called osteosarcoma. His left leg was amputated above the knee in 2015. Just three years later, he won gold in banked slalom and bronze in snowboard cross at the Pyeongchang Paralympics. A member of the U.S. Para Snowboard Team, Elliott has only continued to rise in the sport: He won every single World Cup race he entered in 2024 and 2025.
So it was no surprise that the 28-year-old (who now calls Colorado Springs home) also won this year’s ESPY for Best Athlete With a Disability. Shortly after the ceremony, 5280 spoke with Elliott about the experience, racing through pain, and the 2026 Paralympic Games in Milano Cortina.
Editor’s note: This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
5280: We’ll start with the most important question: What did you wear to the ESPYs?
Noah Elliott: Oh, man, I wore a suit. My old one didn’t really fit me anymore, so I upgraded. Went to Men’s Warehouse. I met a really cool guy, and he was like, “I think I have a suit that’ll look good on you.”
It was maroon. It looked great.
Thank you. I was so pumped about it. And it was actually on sale. It was $100 off for both the top and the bottoms.
Were you nervous waiting for your category to be called?
They presented me with the award during the pre-show so I went into the evening knowing I had won, which was kind of cool. I had a great live interview on the pre-show, which I think made a huge difference for helping [gain] exposure for our sport.
But I will say, they could have done better in the evening by including the adaptive category. I didn’t actually go up on stage at all. I would hope that in the future they allow us to have more of that representation because I would have done a great job. I had a speech ready. I was ready to go up there, say my piece, and thank everybody. It truly was a community effort. To see how many people came out and voted for me was incredible.
Anything from your speech you want to say now?
I think the biggest misconception of any Olympic sport is that the athletes are highly paid. That’s just not the case, unless you’re Chloe Kim or Shaun White or Lindsey Vonn or Mikaela Shiffrin. Really, you don’t make a lot of money—even more so for Paralympians because we have extra costs, like medical equipment, on top of not getting as much exposure on TV, which limits the money that we’re able to make. Showcasing [our sport] on ESPN is exactly the direction we need to be heading. We need to have those equal opportunities so there’s more coverage of it and we get more funding.
In the 2022 Beijing Paralympics, you finished fourth in banked slalom and sixth in snowboard cross—with your femur sticking out of your leg. How did that happen?
When they amputate your leg, they stretch your muscles and then they suture them so that you have padding over your bone. What happened to mine is the sutures tore, and so the muscles retracted back because they weren’t attached anymore. It was just my bone and like a skin layer, and it was causing me a lot of pain. I could hardly wear my leg that entire season.
In Norway for the World Championships, my riding had been really good, so despite everything, I’m like, I can still do this. I rode it really hard that day. I won—defended the world title—but my leg had been killing me all day. I finally got to take my leg off, and I thought [the liquid in my liner] was sweat because that’ll happen, right? You’re an amputee, you get sweat buildup in your liner. It ended up being a cup of blood.
I saw a specialist, and he immediately was like, “There’s no hope, dude. I’m sorry, but the Games just aren’t going to happen.” I just won a world title, so I thought, I can still do this. Yes, my leg hurts like hell, and this sucks, and I wish it was better, but I can still do this.
I found this wound care specialist in Colorado. Long story short, she sent me with four boxes of medical equipment to Beijing, and I was just trying to pretend like this wasn’t a big deal. But the most freeing experience I think I’ve ever felt was going from being on crutches to putting on my snowboard and hauling freight to the course as fast as possible. It was just the coolest feeling ever.
Why put yourself through that?
I was a single father. I needed the money. I was living in Steamboat at the time, and I was working at STARS (Steamboat Adaptive Recreational Sports) teaching other disabled people how to recreate outdoors. I was just scraping by and could barely afford anything. And so for me, this was my opportunity to not only compete well, but also have the financial means to be able to support my family.
This past season you won every World Cup race you entered. What led to your success?
My family and my motivation. I was pursuing a career and a dream [professional skateboarding]. Then everything came to a halt. I had cancer and a daughter that was just born—I was a teen parent. I was motivated to try to give her the best opportunity at a great life, and I hadn’t graduated high school. So those were my motivating factors to create a career for myself. Obviously that worked out.
What it’s been since then is my love for the sport and chasing the ideal version of me as a snowboarder. That’s what keeps me progressing and motivated and hungry.
Are you excited for the Milano Cortina Games?
I’m really excited for the Games next year. I’ve been training, I’ve been getting some new boards made, and I’m excited for Italy.
Do you feel like your injury cheated you out of an opportunity to really compete for gold in 2022?
Oh, 100 percent. This is my redemption Games.
