Brittani Coury

Ritta, Hurricane Ritta, Ritta Las Vegas (Team USA YouTube channel, 03 Jan 2019)

Wakesurfing, hiking, mountain biking. (teamusa.org, 07 Mar 2018)

Winning silver in the women's SB-LL2 banked slalom at the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang. "I was jumping up and down, I was crying, I had so many emotions. I didn't even know how to process this. And then the podium ceremony, to see my flag being raised, it was just incredible." (fox13now.com, 26 Jul 2020)

Her sister. (disabledsportsusa.org, 17 Dec 2017)

"Hold on. Life is a journey. There are obstacles I had to overcome to get where I am now. And those moments are not failures, and it's not the end. It's shaping you for the next chapter, or what's coming up next. Just hold tight. It's going to work out." (fox13now.com, 26 Jul 2020)

To compete at the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing. (fox13now.com, 26 Jul 2020)

In December 2003, at age 17, she fell and broke her right ankle while snowboarding near Durango, CO, United States of America. "That physical pain did not even hold a candle to the emotional pain that snowboarding helped me through. So I continued to snowboard for four more years with a broken ankle." She continued to have problems with the ankle, and in 2006 she required surgery to remove bone spurs. She underwent nine operations over the next five years until she decided to have her leg amputated below the knee in June 2011, at age 25. (fox13now.com, 26 Jul 2020; teamusa.org, 30 Nov 2017; daily-times.com, 01 Oct 2017)

BENEFITS OF SNOWBOARD
She describes herself as being a rebel when she was younger, and quit sports such as football and softball because she did not like how organised they were. After starting snowboarding at age 13, she discovered that spending time on the slopes was an outlet for her and helped her feel free. "When I was hitting jumps, the only thing I was focusing on was snowboarding, and everything else around me and in my life was absent. Since I lost my foot from a snowboarding related accident, my family had a really hard time with my decision to amputate. They struggled with it, more so than I did. They couldn't really relate to why I would opt to lose my foot to be active. They weren't in the same mindset that I was." (disabledsportsusa.org, 17 Dec 2017)

OCCUPATION
She is a registered nurse. In March 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic she began working as a nurse at University of Utah Health in Salt Lake City, UT, United States of America. "My World Cup season came to a premature end due to the COVID-19 crisis, so I swapped my snowboard boots for nursing scrubs to help my community out." (LinkedIn profile, 01 Jun 2020; Instagram profile, 21 Nov 2020; insidethegames.biz, 13 Apr 2020)

FURTHER EDUCATION
Between 2018 and 2020, she studied for a bachelor's degree in nursing at Chamberlain University in Downers Grove, IL, United States of America. (LinkedIn profile, 01 Mar 2020)