Davy Zyw crossed the finish line in 19th place in the men's SB-UL banked slalom at the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. His wife and son were waiting at the bottom. The Tartan Army was somewhere in the crowd cheering. He could hear them as he came down.

This is the payoff from the pre-Games profile published in February. Zyw is 38 years old, from Edinburgh, Scotland. He was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) at age 30 in 2018, told he had two to three years to live, and is now eight years past that prognosis.

He's the first person with motor neurone disease to compete at a Winter Paralympics. The first UK Paralympian with MND. He's not racing the other athletes. The opponent is the disease.

What MND Does to a Snowboarder

MND impacts Zyw's hands, arms, and torso. He can rip down a para snowboard course at full speed, but he needs help putting his gloves on. He can't zip his own jacket. His classification is SB-UL (upper limb impairment).

During the banked slalom, he wore a snood from the Doddie Weir Foundation. Doddie Weir was a former Scotland rugby captain who died from MND in 2022 at age 52. Zyw knew him personally.

At the Games, Zyw competed in two events. Snowboard cross (Men's SB-UL): he fell in his pre-heat and didn't advance. Banked slalom (Men's SB-UL): he finished 19th. He crossed the line.

The Road to Cortina

Zyw broke his shoulder blade training in South America in summer 2025. He came back. In February 2026 at Big White, Canada, he won two silvers and took overall bronze in the season-long Europa Cup rankings. That punched his ticket to Cortina.

His twin brother Tommy travels to every competition. In 2020, they completed the North Coast 500 together (500 miles in four days across Scotland) to raise money for the My Name'5 Doddie Foundation.

His employer, Berry Bros & Rudd, one of Britain's oldest wine and spirits merchants, has raised over £700,000 for MND causes and supported his Paralympic campaign.

What Winning Looks Like

After crossing the finish line, Zyw was asked if he won.

"Was I fastest down the course today? Absolutely not, I knew I wasn't going to be. But my race and battle is with MND and today I'm winning that race."

He went on: "I'm on cloud nine. I've had such a journey, to not only qualify for the Paralympics, to fight my way into the team. It's a dream come true that I've raced here and become a Paralympian. The first-ever Winter Paralympian with motor neurone disease. I couldn't be happier."

He's eight years past the prognosis that said he'd be gone by 2021. He's at the Winter Paralympics wearing Doddie Weir's snood, hearing the Tartan Army cheering from the crowd, seeing his wife and son at the finish line.

What He Wants the Platform For

Zyw called his situation "tragic beauty." The disease reconnected him with snowboarding while presenting an impossible physical reality. He can't do up his own jacket, but he can ride a banked slalom course at Paralympic-level speed.

He's using the platform to push for MND research funding. For families watching him come down that course, some of them living alongside a progressive diagnosis, or watching someone they love do it, his framing of what's possible carries weight.

"The reality is, I'm delighted to make history here, but I really want to banish this disease to history."

"It's a complicated disease. It's an evil disease. The truth is it's not incurable, it's just underfunded."

"Using this platform, I want to help find a cure for this currently incurable condition."

Davy Zyw finished 19th. He crossed the line. Eight years past the prognosis, with his wife, his son, and the Tartan Army watching. He's not racing the field. He's racing MND. And at Cortina, he won.