Mac Marcoux

Mac Marcoux was born on 20 June 1997 in Haviland Bay, Ontario. He resides there with his parents and two siblings, an older brother and a younger sister. He started skiing at the age of four. He also rode BMX bikes and raced go-karts. In 2006, he started losing his sight due to Stargardt disease,^[1][2] a degenerative condition, and became legally blind in 2007. He said: "We've always been a racing family from the beginning. It's how I've grown up. Going fast was just a part of it. The faster you go the more fun it is".^[3]

After Marcoux had lost his vision, his brother Billy Joe (B.J.) Marcoux decided to put his college education on hold in order to assist him with skiing.^[4] Alpine Canada introduced them to a new kind of skiing called Para-Alpine. They were inspired by the McKeever brothers to do visually impaired para-alpine. Other than the Paralympics, his brother B.J. has been his sighted guide using radio communication ever since then; something they had never used before.^[5][6]

Marcoux is classified as a B3 (visually impaired) athlete.^[2] At the age of 15, he competed at the 2013 IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup in Mount Hutt, New Zealand, with B.J. as his guide, winning three medals. Later that year he won a silver medal in the giant slalom at the 2013 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships in La Molina, Spain, and became the national Slalom and giant slalom champion at Sun Peaks, British Columbia.^[6]

The following year he competed in the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi as the youngest member of the Canadian Paralympic Team at the age of 16.^[7] With Robin Femy as his guide. He won bronze in both the Downhill and the Super-G, as well as a gold in the giant slalom by over two seconds.^[8][9][10] "It is the best moment of my life", he said after winning gold. "I can't even explain how amazing this is."^[10]

Mac and his brother B.J. were inducted into the Sault Ste. Marie Walk of Fame on 19 September 2014.^[11]

At the 2017 World Championships he won gold in the downhill,^[12] giant slalom,^[13] slalom,^[14] and super-G.^[15] He also won silver in the super combined.^[16]

He raced BMX bikes and go-karts with his brother B.J. before he was blind. After he lost his sight, he fished and also rode mountain bikes at Whistler with a guide using the same kind of radio communication system.^[6]

Marcoux and his brother BJ was presented the H.P. Broughton Trophy and was named into the Sault Ste. Marie Walk of Fame. In October 2014, the brothers were also inducted into the Sault Ste. Marie Sports Hall of Fame by mayor Debbie Amaroso.^[17][11]

• Canada at the 2014 Winter Paralympics

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mac Marcoux.

• Mac Marcoux at the International Paralympic Committee
• Mac Marcoux at IPC.InfostradaSports.com (archived)
• Mac Marcoux at the Canadian Paralympic Committee