“One day you’ll see me at the Paralympics.” A vow made by Curtis McGrath from a stretcher after his life-altering injury.
Curtis was serving as an Australian Army combat engineer in Afghanistan in 2012 when he stepped on an improvised explosive device. He became an amputee in his right leg above the knee and left leg below the knee. He describes feeling lost after the injury and how sport gave him back a purpose and a dream.
Mere months after starting in Para-canoe, Curtis put the world on notice with a gold medal on debut at the 2014 International Canoe Federation (ICF) Canoe Sprint World Championships in Moscow. He then defended it the following year in Milan.
At the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, Curtis went head-to-head with six-time world champion Markus Swoboda from Austria. Although Markus took an early lead, Curtis pulled ahead and earned Australia’s first gold medal in Para-canoe at the Paralympic Games. He was recognised with top honours as Sportsman of the Year at the 2016 World Paddle Awards and carried the Australian flag at the Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony, a massive highlight of his career.
Curtis’s win in Rio began a steady stream of successes. On the road to Tokyo 2020, he won a national title in 2017, defended his world titles at the 2017 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Račice, and notched up his seventh and eighth, and ninth and 10th world titles across 2018 and 2019 respectively.
At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Curtis made history by becoming the first Para-canoeist to win two gold medals at one Games when he defended his KL2 title and claimed the inaugural title in Va’a VL3 discipline.
Most recently, as Australian Paralympic Team co-captain alongside Angie Ballard, Curtis claimed an emotional third consecutive title in the KL2 at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. His win, in a time of 41:31, came after he a trying period for his young family, with baby Monty requiring open-heart surgery shortly after he was born in July.
Curtis graduated from Griffith University with a Bachelor of Aviation Management. A theme certainly emerges when you discover his favourite movie is Interstellar.
Now a Paralympics Australia Board Director, Curtis aims to be involved in the build-up to the Brisbane 2032 Paralympic Games, helping empower aspiring Paralympians. Curtis’s success and leadership are deeply valued by the Australian Paralympic Movement. “If I can show that getting out there and getting active leads to a positive and healthy life,” he said, “it’s the least I can do…”
Show less
Join AUS Squad
Para-canoe
