Chris Vos: Top five things to know about the Dutch Paralympic star

Chris Vos is truly elite, and one of the can't-miss performers at the upcoming Paralympic Games.

The para snowboarder already has four World Championship gold medals and a Paralympic silver medal to his name.

Beijing 2022 represents his third Paralympic Games appearance, after making his debut at Sochi 2014 as a wide-eyed teenager.

Doctors said he wouldn't be able to walk again

Vos' life took a drastic turn very early on. When he was just five-years-old, he suffered severe injuries to his right leg and pelvis in an accident at home with a digging machine (crane). His right leg would have to be paralysed as a result.

"I broke my hips in four places and it destroyed a lot of the nerves and veins in my leg," he told the Burton Europe YouTube channel. "Two years after my accident, we went skiing. I couldn't ski, but my father thought I could stand on a snowboard. He had tied a rope around my waist and off we went. I was in pain, had cramps all over. But I had to and I wanted to be able to do what others could. Doctors said I would never walk again, but now [speaking in 2021] I'm a professional snowboarder. Snowboarding really changed my life."

Mentel-Spee the mentor

Vos' path to the top of para snowboarding was greatly aided by the help of the late, great Bibian Mentel-Spee.

The multi-gold medal winner in para snowboarding and inspirational figure, who sadly passed away in March 2021 after many years battling cancer, took Vos under her wing at an early age.

Vos was first inspired by Nicolien Sauerbreij, who gold in parallel giant slalom at Vancouver 2010. His parent later got in touch with the local association, which led to meeting the Dutch para snowboarding legend Mentel-Spee. She showed him the ropes and mentored him in the build-up to Sochi 2014, when snowboarding made its debut at the Paralympics.

Power couple

His partner is fellow para snowboarder Lisa Bunschoten, who also won a silver medal at PyeongChang 2018. And like Vos, she too was mentored by Mentel-Spee.

The two will both be determined to bring home their first gold medals from Beijing 2022.

To add even further motivation, the couple was announced recently to be the flag bearers for the Netherlands in the Opening Ceremony on 4 March.

Captain Chris

If Vos wasn't already incredible enough, he also has a private pilot licence. He completed his childhood dream after finished a two-year course in July 2020.

"As a child I was already behind the flight simulator all day, and since then it has just worked out," he told the Burton Europe YouTube channel. "I always thought that given my physical condition it was not for me, but my mum took the initiative and gifted me some flying lessons. And so the ball started rolling. I learned the theory through self-study and I took practical lessons between snowboarding competitions and training sessions. I am now proudly Captain Chris."

Future film director?

Judging by this clip he edited together on his personal Instagram page documenting Team Netherlands' journey to Beijing, filmmaking and movie directing could very well be in Vos' future. He's got the knack for it!

He's already a gifted storyteller. In 2018 he published a book called "Xtreme", which documents his story, his family's struggles to create a "normal" life for him. "The book describes how I got into snowboarding, the people who are important to me, all the ups and downs. The victory and the losses. The book says it all," he told Paralympic.org.