CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — American Para snowboarder Mike Schultz is putting an end to his competitive days at the Paralympics.
The Minnesota native will go behind the scenes to work fulltime making the prosthetic equipment that has helped so many Para athletes — including some of those who beat him this week at the Milan Cortina Games.
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Tyler Turner, of Canada, leads Noah Elliott, of the United States, right, and Mike Schultz, of the United States, in a men's snowboard cross SB-LL1 semifinal at the 2026 Winter Paralympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Tyler Turner, of Canada, leads Noah Elliott, of the United States, right, and Mike Schultz, of the United States, in a men's snowboard cross SB-LL1 semifinal at the 2026 Winter Paralympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Mike Schultz, of the United States, reacts after qualifying in a men's snowboard cross SB-LL1 quarterfinal at the 2026 Winter Paralympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Noah Elliott, right, and Mike Schultz, both of the United States, compete in a men's snowboard cross SB-LL1 quarterfinal at the 2026 Winter Paralympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka
Mike Schultz, of the United States, stretches during warmup before the start of the snowboard cross competitions at the 2026 Winter Paralympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka
Seeing his business thrive from up close has helped Schultz — a three-time Paralympic medalist — go into retirement with greater peace of mind.
“It's pretty awesome to look back at my career, and all these athletes out here using the equipment I built,” he said. “Being a big part of the prosthetic performance for pretty much every other lower-limb amputee that’s racing here today using the equipment I built in my shop. So I can hold my head high, you know, big picture. I’m loving it. I’m loving it.”
The 44-year-old Schultz began building his own prosthetic equipment after an accident while competing in a professional snowcross race in 2008. He flew off his snowmobile after drifting off the course and landed on his left leg, sustaining a severe compound fracture to his knee. After several surgeries, his leg was amputated above the knee.
He wanted to get back to motocross and snowmobile racing but soon found out there was nothing that would really allow him to ride the way he did before his amputation.
Always into the mechanics of things — his father taught him to weld when he was 10 — Schultz began developing equipment that could absorb the amount of impact needed for action sports. It didn’t take long before he realized that many other amputee athletes could benefit from his equipment. In 2010, he created a company, BioDapt, that quickly became trusted by top Para competitors.
Team USA said 95% of the top Paralympic lower-limb snowboard athletes use BioDapt’s products, including the entire U.S. Paralympic snowboard team. Schultz said he brought to Italy a 30-pound backpack with some extra parts and hardware to attend to the athletes at Milan Cortina.
“The top eight guys were all wearing BioDapt equipment,” he said after the snowboard cross race Sunday. “Big picture, I'm more about trying to progress the sport as a whole and very proud that I could be a part of that.”
With his competitive days in the past, the goal now will be to spend more time working on new ideas to advance the prosthetic equipment used in sports.
“That is one of the big reasons that I’m retiring from snowboard racing so I can spend more time with my business,” he said. “Also, more time with my family, of course, but I really have some big ideas that I want to work on over the next few years ... I’ve got some big ideas on wanting to pursue for a while, but I’ve been too busy with snowboarding."
Last month, BioDapt and Autodesk announced a partnership to advance the next generation of high-performance prosthetics for Para athletes preparing to compete in the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games and beyond.
Schultz made his Paralympic debut at the Pyeongchang Games in 2018, winning gold in snowboard cross and silver in banked slalom. He won a silver medal in snowboard cross at the Beijing Games in 2022.
He finished sixth in snowboard cross at Milan Cortina on Sunday. His final race will be the banked slalom on Friday.
“I had a moment before I pulled into the staging area, just to soak it in, and I’m starting to get this knot in my throat thinking about it, and I’m like, ‘No, no, not right now...’" Schultz said. “It is emotional. I've been at this for 12 years and, you know, multiple medals, and travel the world with this family of snowboarders. It's pretty special.”
AP Winter Paralympics: https://apnews.com/hub/paralympic-games
Tyler Turner, of Canada, leads Noah Elliott, of the United States, right, and Mike Schultz, of the United States, in a men's snowboard cross SB-LL1 semifinal at the 2026 Winter Paralympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Mike Schultz, of the United States, reacts after qualifying in a men's snowboard cross SB-LL1 quarterfinal at the 2026 Winter Paralympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Noah Elliott, right, and Mike Schultz, both of the United States, compete in a men's snowboard cross SB-LL1 quarterfinal at the 2026 Winter Paralympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka
Mike Schultz, of the United States, stretches during warmup before the start of the snowboard cross competitions at the 2026 Winter Paralympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka
WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (AP) — An attacker armed with a rifle rammed his vehicle into one of the nation’s largest reform synagogues Thursday, driving through a hallway as security opened fire, fatally shooting him, The Associated Press has learned.
The vehicle caught fire after crashing into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, just outside Detroit, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to the AP.
None of the synagogue’s staff, teachers or the 140 children at its early childhood center were injured, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said.
The attacker drove through a set of doors and into the hallway where something in the vehicle ignited, Bouchard said. “He was traveling with purpose down the hall, from my look at the video,” Bouchard said.
Investigators were still working to identify the man and a possible motive, said the person who could not publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. The person cautioned that the investigation was still in the early stages.
In the minutes after the attack, smoke billowed from the synagogue. One security officer was hit by the vehicle and knocked unconscious but did not suffer life-threatening injuries, the sheriff said.
The synagogue has multiple security officers, he said, and at least one fired at the suspect, who was found dead inside his vehicle.
“We can’t say what killed him at this point but security did engage the suspect with gunfire,” the sheriff said, adding that it was possible the attacker killed himself or died some other way.
In a statement posted on Facebook, the synagogue praised its security personnel “who are truly heroes" for neutralizing the gunman.
“Our teachers followed their training and kept the children safe and calm,” it said.
About a dozen parents sprinted to get their children soon after authorities cleared the building. Other families were reunited at a nearby Jewish Community Center.
Allison Jacobs, whose 18-month-old daughter is enrolled in Temple Israel’s day care, said she got a message from a teacher saying the children were OK even before she knew what happened.
“There are no words. I was in complete and utter shock,” she told the AP. “I was hoping that it was a false report.”
Jacobs, whose family is Jewish, said she tries not to think about all that’s going on in the world.
“You never think that this is actually going to happen to you,” she said. “But I know that it’s — it’s just terrible. This morning I was mourning the loss of the school that got hit in Iran.”
Synagogues around the world have been on edge and have been ramping up security since the U.S. and Israel launched a war with Iran with missile strikes on Feb. 28.
The FBI has warned that Iranian operatives may be planning drone attacks on targets in California. Two men brought explosives to a far-right protest outside the New York mayoral mansion on Saturday. Investigators allege they were inspired by the Islamic State extremist group.
And an assailant drove a car into people outside an Orthodox synagogue in Manchester, England, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. He stabbed two people to death before officers shot and killed him.
President Donald Trump said he had been fully briefed on the attack, calling it a “terrible thing.”
Oakland County is Michigan’s second-largest county with roughly 1.3 million people. The majority of Detroit-area Jewish residents live there.
“This is heartbreaking,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement. “Michigan’s Jewish community should be able to live and practice their faith in peace.”
It was the second attack at a house of worship in Michigan within the past year. Last October, a former Marine fatally shot four people at a church north of Detroit and set it ablaze. The FBI later said he was motivated by “anti-religious beliefs” against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Temple Israel has 12,000 members, according to its website, which says the synagogue is “passionate about helping Jewish communities across the globe” and that its mission is to “create a community building through the lens of Reform Judaism.”
The Jewish Federation of Detroit briefly advised all Jewish organizations in the area to lock down.
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, a survivor of the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue massacre, said in a statement that the Michigan attack demonstrates yet again the consequences of hatred.
“We lose our humanity when we seek violent means as a solution,” said Myers, rabbi of the Tree of Life Congregation, where 11 worshippers died in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. “No one should dwell in fear because of who they are.”
Durkin Richer reported from Washington, D.C. Associated Press reporters Ed White in Detroit; Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; and Eric Tucker in Washington, D.C., contributed.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard speaks to media as police respond to scene of a shooting at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Mich., on Thursday, March 12 2026. (Jacob Hamilton /Ann Arbor News via AP)
Law enforcement escort families with children away from the Temple Israel synagogue Thursday, March 12, 2026, in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Police respond to scene of a shooting at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Mich., on Thursday, March 12 2026. (Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)
Law enforcement respond to a call at Temple Israel synagogue Thursday, March 12, 2026, in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Law enforcement respond to a call at Temple Israel synagogue Thursday, March 12, 2026, in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Law enforcement respond to a call at Temple Israel synagogue Thursday, March 12, 2026, in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
A woman gathers children as law enforcement respond to a call at Temple Israel synagogue on Thursday, March 12, 2026, in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Corey Williams)
Law enforcement respond to a call at Temple Israel synagogue on Thursday, March 12, 2026, in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Corey Williams)
Law enforcement respond to a call at Temple Israel synagogue, Thursday, March 12, 2026 in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Corey Williams)
Law enforcement respond to a call at Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Corey Williams)
People gather near Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Corey Williams)
