ROME, March 10 — Rapolas Micevicius’ life was flipped upside-down in 2021 when a freak kitesurfing accident shattered his left leg, leaving doctors no choice but to amputate the lower half.

Now less than five years later, the Lithuanian is competing at the Milan-Cortina Paralympics in the men’s snowboarding and living his dream of being a professional athlete in the winter and a kitesurf instructor in the summer.