Dominic Monypenny

After an outstanding rowing career that saw Dominic Monypenny represent Australia at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games, the proud Tasmanian decided to set himself a whole new challenge.

That challenge was to become an elite Nordic sit skier, and incredibly, his tireless training ethic, and a complete dedication to his new sport now has him within reach of a place in Australia’s Winter Paralympic Team for the 2010 Paralympics in Vancouver.

It was soon after the Beijing Games that Dominic made the switch, and he competed at his first major Nordic Skiing event in January 2009, the US National Championships in Alaska.

While he admits his debut performance was modest, Dominic has since made immense progress and continues to strive towards his goal of winning a coveted Paralympic medal in Vancouver.

Always very physically active, Dominic fell 30 metres from a walking trail in the Launceston Cataract Gorge eleven years ago, resulting in paraplegia. After his accident he decided that using a wheelchair wasn’t going to stop his love of sports and became involved in gym climbing, hand cycling, wheelchair road racing, badminton, tennis, basketball and downhill skiing.

In January 2003, Dominic became the first person in a wheelchair to complete Australia’s hardest half marathon, up Mount Wellington on the outskirts of Hobart. Even more remarkably, he completed the challenge in a normal day chair instead of a specialised racing chair.

Away from the sport arena, Dominic holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry.