Noah Elliott’s Paralympic debut at the 2018 PyeongChang Games was nothing short of triumphant. The St. Louis, Missouri native won a gold medal in banked slalom SB-LL1 and brought home a bronze in snowboard cross.

His sophomore appearance four years later was not as smooth of a ride. He entered the 2022 Paralympics in Beijing as the reigning world champion but finished off the podium in both his events. Behind the scenes, he was grappling with a “gnarly injury” that hampered his ability to compete to his fullest potential.

The injury that plagued him in the lead-up to 2022 required a revision surgery on his residual limb, but he insisted on postponing the operation until after the Paralympics so he could compete in Beijing. Elliott, who overcame an osteosarcoma diagnosis at 15, is no stranger to pushing through pain that would be debilitating for many other athletes. He underwent below-the-knee amputation surgery on his left leg to treat the aggressive form of bone cancer and knew he wanted sports to remain a part of his life.

After Beijing, he had another inch and a half of his femur bone removed. Elliott had to re-learn how to walk yet again and go through a grueling recovery process that lasted over a year.

As he contends for a spot on his third Paralympic team, 2026 looms large.

“This is absolutely my redemption year,” Elliott said. “I'm so stoked, I'm going for gold again and I'm stronger than I've ever been.”

While he kept the extent of his ordeal private at the time, Elliott detailed his Beijing struggles at the Team USA Media Summit in October.

“Everyone on my team knew about it… and it was just something I had to put off,” Elliott said of his injury. “You get a surgery, and they give you a list of things that this could happen. This was one of those things that could happen.”

The complication was a result of his leg amputation surgery, which involves stretching the muscles and suturing them to provide the bone with padding.

“What happened to mine is the sutures tore and so I ended up having nothing protecting my femur from going through the skin. … My femur bone actually came through my skin, and so I had it like half an inch sticking out [of] my leg,” he explained.

The condensed season due to COVID-19 restrictions made the gruesome injury even more difficult to manage. At a training camp in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, he barely could tolerate wearing his prosthesis at all, let alone train.

“And then I was expected to put my leg on and go snowboard,” Elliott said.

With a Paralympic berth already secured and only three weeks between the 2022 World Championships and the Beijing Games, there was little Elliott could do other than try to compete through the agony.

He credits his teammates with supporting him through the process, carrying his bags while he was on crutches, and helping him navigate the pain and pressure.

Elliott still raced, placing 4th in banked slalom and 6th in snowboard cross.

After the Games, he had to go through a full amputation period again.

“They cut off another inch and a half of my femur bone and that was really scary coming back,” Elliott said. “It's like the fear of the unknown, right? I just didn't know if it was going to affect my walking, if I was going to notice it snowboarding. It was a really big fear, and to my surprise, I didn't notice it too much at all.”

Elliott first was exposed to para snowboarding in 2014 while undergoing cancer treatment. He long had been a competitive skateboarder and first went to the doctor when he experienced knee pain while riding.

“I went in thinking that I tore my ACL,” Elliott said. “Two days later, I had a cancer diagnosis and got my first surgery to get a catheter implant into my chest so I could do my chemotherapy.”

He spent over a year in a children’s hospital, where he not only experienced the horrors of cancer treatment firsthand, but saw friends lose their own battles with the disease.

“Seeing stuff like that, it took a really big toll on me,” Elliott shared. “That's another reason why I'm so passionate to have chased my dream and to try to get to where I am today and continue to push that forward so I can be that voice for people. There can be a life past cancer. There is hope in some situations, so I really want to spread the word.”

Elliott watched the Sochi Paralympics on TV from his hospital room. He initially underwent a limb salvage surgery, including a total knee replacement from his knee to ankle bone. Elliott endured the full recovery and rehabilitation process before his body rejected the metal, developing a serious infection. 

He was given 10 days to decide whether to have his lower leg amputated or try to salvage the limb again.

“At that point, I just I knew prosthetics were evolving,” Elliott said. “My leg I saw as dead weight and I knew that I wanted to pursue sports again. In order to do that, I needed to get a prosthesis. So, I elected the amputation.”

Three years after he was declared cancer-free, Elliott won his first Paralympic medal.

One of the most challenging parts of his amputation journey was wrestling with insurance to afford a prosthesis that would allow him to snowboard effectively. Even after receiving help from his prosthetist, who himself was an amputee, Elliott had a co-pay of over $6,000 for his first leg. 

“That’s the biggest boundary that we are faced with,” he said. “That's why it's so important to have the spotlight to be able to talk about it, you know, to help change that so for future generations it's not as big of a cost associated with it, and everybody can do it.”

Since his recovery from surgery, Elliott has made a dominant return to the sport.

Last year’s season was a career best, earning him two world championship medals, as well as two FIS Crystal Globes. He also received the 2025 EPSY Award for best athlete with a disability.

He is slated to compete on the 2025-26 World Cup circuit, which began in November and culminates in qualification opportunities for the 2026 Milan Cortina Paralympics.

While his redemption tour wish list includes gold hardware, Elliott’s hopes for the sport extend beyond 2026 – and beyond himself.

In addition to his personal goals, he hopes to see para snowboarding expand in the future. 

“One of the things is we need to have more disciplines than just two racing events. … Those are the things that I'm pushing towards for the future of our sport, and helping to branch off into so we can have that representation as well for our sport,” Elliott said.

When he first was exposed to para snowboarding in the hospital in 2014, it was the sport’s Paralympic debut. In the years since, he has been an integral part of advocating for more visibility for not only para boarders, but Paralympians at large.

He praised increased integration of Paralympic sports with their Olympic counterparts, including more commercials featuring Paralympians and the rebranding of the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC).

“If I didn't have a nurse who was familiar with the Paralympics, I never would have seen it and moved out of St. Louis and chased this dream and been No. 1 in the world today,” Elliott said. “So, I think it goes such a long way, and I'm so happy to be a part of that.”

He added, “It takes a community to build anything great. It takes a village to raise something.”