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Milldale’s Mitch Joynt will make his Paralympics debut in Paris this month, thanks to his unwavering commitment for more than a decade.
After Joynt, 29, lost his right leg in a woodchipper accident 11 years ago, his focus shifted quickly to what he could achieve.
“As soon as I lost my leg, I had that drive to get to the Paralympics,” he says.
Joynt says it is hard to put into words what it will mean to compete in the black singlet.
“The biggest feeling will be relief. I have worked for a long time for this opportunity, so to finally be there will be amazing. When I line up in the heat, I will have achieved something that only a very select number of New Zealanders have ever done.”
Joynt heads to Paris with a huge amount of confidence.
At the Para Athletics World Championships in Kobe, Japan he earned a bronze medal in the men’s 200m T64, courtesy of an Oceania record of 23.15.
“I knew I had run well, and my time puts me in the mix for medal contention in Paris. I’d love to run sub-23 seconds.”
Joynt says he has more time to train now that he is funded by High Performance Sport NZ and that the support of ACC has also been a constant, through rehabilitation and helping fund his running blades.
Joynt mentors people with an amputation in a peer support programme and says it is good to help normalise people’s recovery and show them that everything is going to be okay. His advice is that you have to go through the rehab, however hard that may be.
“On the other side there is a huge amount that you can still achieve. You can still have a great life.”
The Paralympics run from August 28 to September 8.
