James Barnes-Miller talks final Winter Paralympics: "I admit, I always think I'm going to fall"

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

He’s one of our strongest hopes for a medal: at this, his third and final Paralympics, 36-year-old snowboarder James Barnes-Miller is focused on a podium place. Could this be the year? He will compete in banked slalom and snowboard cross. The first does what it says on the tin, but the second?

“It’s a race track with different obstacles, and big rollers in the snow,” he explains. “Four of you go off at a time. You are hemmed in, racing against other people, and the first two get through to the next round.” Sounds horrendous, frankly. “Nah,” says Barnes-Miller, who became a father for the first time just three months ago. “The worst moment is when you look down the mountain at your practice run. That’s what gets the heart going.”

It’s fair to say that snowboarding is associated with an air of privilege but, while Barnes-Miller now lives in Morzine in the French Alps, he grew up in Ramsgate. “My stepdad teaches cooking and my mother teaches hair and beauty. I’m definitely not posh,” he says.

Born without a right hand, he first started riding on a board with wheels. “I’ve never skied. Me and my brothers would go skateboarding, but it wasn’t until I was 20 that I went on a snowboarding holiday. My mates just took me to the top of a red run and laughed all the way as I was falling down it. After which I got a couple of lessons and just picked it up.

“For my first couple of seasons I was scraping by, working as much as I could, trying to find sponsorship and grants.” He’d like to see more boarders like him on the journey. “I think there are definitely more opportunities for young people now, with snowdomes being built in the UK, and cheaper holidays. But more could be done. It’s not a cheap sport, and if opened up you would find more talent.”

Before he took snowboarding seriously, Barnes-Miller was a builder, doing loft conversions and house extensions. “I told my boss I was going to try and make it in sport. He was great, and said he’d keep my job open for the first couple of years, just in case.”

He never went back. “After my second season I won a couple of medals and then got UK Sport funding with the National Lottery, which meant I could train as much as possible.”

He competes at the Paralympics in the Upper Limbs category. Does the lack of a hand present a significant disadvantage? “I learnt to snowboard without a right hand, so I don’t miss it. The biggest issue is that there is a lot of standing around, when you are waiting to go, and my stump gets really cold. I have to use a lot of hand warmers to keep it warm. Some people use prosthetics but I don’t like them. I’m quite lucky; a lot of the boys I race against have all sorts of disabilities higher up the arm, which can be an issue. But I have most of my arm, it’s just my hand that’s missing at the wrist.”

He’s been to the Paralympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in 2018 and Beijing, China, in 2022. What makes them so special? “The racing is similar to the World Cup, only the courses are a bit bigger, which makes it more exciting.” Does he get frightened? “Nah. I’ll be stoked!” When I look down on a ski-run, I admit, I always think I’m going to fall. “Well, if you have that voice in your head, then you will fall,” he responds, sensibly.

Has he ever fallen? Not half. He broke his back a couple of years ago. “I’ve had worse crashes. It was quite a small one. I landed on my bum, and my physio said it wasn’t too bad. So, I went off to Finland to compete in the World Cup, but I knew something wasn’t right. I came back, had an X-ray, and discovered I had broken two vertebrae in my back.”

Just six weeks after that, Barnes-Miller was back in action. “I flew out to the last World Cup season in Canada, upped the pace a bit and the pain came back. So I had to take more time off.” And now? “Well, I’ve been riding in pain, as I wanted to qualify, but I have really worked on my rehab. This is my last Games, and I really want to enjoy them. I’ve been competing for the past 10 years, but during the last two, I’ve been in pain, and every injury takes longer to recover from. It’s time to quit.”

In the meantime, coverage of Barnes-Miller’s performance might be rather challenging for the TV crews, especially for the sound team. “I swear, all the way down. Out loud!”

What? “Not in a horrible way. Actually, it depends on how well I’m doing.” OK, imagine a sliding scale from one to 10, where one is “Gosh” and 10 is That Really Bad Word. How would he rank? “If I’m going OK, I’d say three–four. If badly, then eight–nine. I can’t help it. It just comes out! Even being filmed and wearing a mic doesn’t stop me.”

When he takes to the slopes, his wife Aoife and new baby Rhea will be watching. “They’ll both be there, cheering me on.” As will the nation. Just try to close your ears to what he’s saying as he comes down the course.

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