“I thought it might be fun, I’m not sure I was right,” he said.
By the time his final day of racing arrived, Milton’s mind was made up. When asked whether he had enough fun in the last week of racing in the Italian Dolomites, he said, “absolutely not”.
Australian Michael Milton competing in in Italy.Credit: Getty Images
“You know I’m not sure I had any fun at all this week.”
At the bottom of the Tofane Mountain, Milton wasn’t laughing.
“Lots of reasons for that. Definitely, there are some goals that have a tick by them, but not that one,” he said.
None of it was made easier by last-minute challenges, including a broken femur a month out from the Games, his family’s week-long diversion in the Middle East instead of them being in Venice with him, and erratic weather conditions throughout the week, which saw races postponed and finals brought forward by entire days.
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Milton had more planned for himself than what could be achieved in the conditions. But more than that, he had more planned for this version of himself, as decided by his near-perfect standards of the past.
“When you’re skiing, if it’s easy, you can be close to perfect,” he said on Tuesday. “As things get tougher, whether it be snow, weather, [the] hill, mental challenges, injury – then you’ve got to be a bit more forgiving of yourself, to say: ‘hey, I’m not going to ski this perfect’.”
“There’s plenty of times where I’ve won races skiing what I thought was quite poorly … So yeah, I called my skiing pathetic. I was happy with the effort, and that’s all I can really focus on post-injury and coming back.”
But even though none have shared the criticism that he has waged on himself, Milton hasn’t yet counted his losses and moved on.
“No matter what happens, it’ll be another four years before I do another Paralympic event. And I’m not saying I will, but I’m not saying I won’t, and you won’t get that out of me this week,” he said. “Next time you ask, it’ll involve swearing at the end.”
After his final race, the journalists pooled at the bottom of the hill asked again whether he would return for another Games. Milton delivered on the promise: “F— off. Has anybody ever told you to f– off in an interview before? Because I want to be the first.”
This time, however, he did laugh.
This masthead has travelled to Cortina as a guest of Paralympics Australia.
The Winter Paralympic Games is broadcast on the Nine Network, 9Now and Stan Sport.
