Chillfactor Podcast – Sean Pollard, Snowboarder and Captain of the 2026 Australian Paralympic Team,

Mountainwatch |Podcast Interview

In the latest Chillfactor podcast, Reggae chats with snowboarder Sean Pollard who has been named captain of the Australian team for the 2026 Paralympics in Milan/Cortina in March 2026. It will be Sean’s second Paralympics, his first being PyeongChang in South Korea in 2018.

Sean grew up in Bunbury, WA, an hour north of Margaret River and has surfed his whole life. He was on a surf trip in 2014 when he suffered but suffered horrific injuries in shark attack while surfing near Esperance on the WA south coast, losing his left arm and right hand while fending of the shark.

Twelve months later Sean joined some mates on a snowboarding trip to Mt Buller, the first time he’d seen snow. but his surfing and skating background helped him pick up snowboarding reasonably quickly.

The sense of freedom, speed and “the glide” filled the void Sean had been experiencing through not surfing and he fell in love with snowboarding pretty quickly. It was during trip to Canada the following northern hemisphere winter that a chance meeting with the Canadian Paralympic coach led to Sean contacting Snow Australia and getting involved in snowboard competition. Ten years later he’s captain of the Australian team.

Married with a four-year old daughter, Sean is a dedicated  family man and his story is one of determination, positivity and grit. This is an inspiring chat and one you will enjoy, check it out here.