Dan Cnossen | Beijing 2022 Olympic Profile

Team USA Para Nordic Skier and 6-time paralympic medalist Dan Cnossen reflects on his journey in the sport and hopes his passion for the intensity of the race will propel him to more medals in Beijing.

Video Transcript

DAN CNOSSEN: I'm very excited about the lead up to the Beijing Games this winter.

And by way of background, I grew up in Kansas. I went to the US Naval Academy after high school and then graduated and went to Navy SEAL training. I got through all that training in 2003. I started deploying in the military, was severely injured in 2009 in Afghanistan while serving as a platoon commander at a West Coast-based SEAL team.

Went through, after this injury, two years in the hospital to rehabilitate and to hopefully find a sense of purpose, and that's when I was introduced to the Paralympic program. Was recruited into cross-country skiing and biathlon and have been to two Paralympic Winter Games. Training for my third right now to go to Beijing.

The reason we do this, it's not for medals. It's not for firsts or anything like that. I do this because I like to be in the intensity of a race. And afterwards there's a results list, and it is what it is. But in that intense-- in that moment with that intensity, that is what it's all about, and that's what I'm looking forward to.