Qualified | Milano Cortina 2026
Paralympian 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022, 2026
6'1"
46
Granby, CO
Classification: LW11, Sitting
Jasmin Bambur was born in Zrenjanin, Serbia, in 1979 and raised in Bosnia. The Bosnian conflict of the 1990s forced his family to flee back to Serbia when Bambur was 12 years old. When Bambur was 18, his father found him a placement in the United States through a high school foreign exchange program, to pursue a handball career and continue his education. Bambur arrived in America with little more than his athleticism and an instinct for reinvention. While enrolled at Middle Georgia College in 2000, he was selected for the U.S. National Handball Team.
That trajectory was interrupted one night after handball training in 2000, when Bambur fell asleep at the wheel and his car crashed. The accident left him with a spinal cord injury that resulted in paraplegia. The physical and emotional aftermath was severe. Bambur struggled with depression through the early months of recovery, grappling with the loss of a body and a sporting future he had worked hard to build. The turning point came through a visit from Bert Burns, a 1992 Paralympic gold medalist, whose example showed Bambur with clarity what was still possible. He explored wheelchair tennis, wheelchair basketball, and waterskiing before discovering sit-skiing and recognizing it as the discipline he had been looking for.
Bambur's Paralympic debut came at the Paralympic Winter Games Vancouver 2010, but not under the American flag. Having not yet received U.S. citizenship, he competed for Serbia and made history as the first winter Paralympian ever to represent that country. He finished ninth in downhill and 20th in super-G. Later that year, Bambur was granted U.S. citizenship, and in 2012 he was named to the U.S. Paralympic Alpine Skiing National Team.
At the Paralympic Winter Games Sochi 2014, competing for Team USA for the first time, Bambur raced in downhill, slalom, giant slalom, super combined, and super-G, finishing seventh in super-G, his best result to that point. He returned at the Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, competing across giant slalom, slalom, super-G, and super combined, placing 12th in super combined. At the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, he posted his strongest technical-event result in years with an eighth-place finish in slalom and 16th in giant slalom. He has also competed at IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships in 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017 and 2022, building a world championship record that mirrors the longevity of his Paralympic career.
Away from racing, Bambur's identity is shaped as much by the outdoors as by the competition. He fishes, hunts, kayaks, boats, and camps, activities that connect him to a version of the natural world that doesn't require a slope or a start gate. He is the father of three daughters: Lejla, Maja and Adelyn. His fluency in five languages (English, Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian and Macedonian) reflects a life that has crossed more borders and absorbed more cultures than most people encounter in a lifetime, and it remains one of the qualities he carries with unmistakable pride.
Shoutout
Appearance
Post
AutographAt the Paralympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, para alpine and cross-country events will be held at the same venues as their Olympic cousins: the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina d’Ampezzo and the Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium in Val d...
Disability Pride Month is a time to recognize the history, achievements and experiences of people living with disabilities. It reminds us that disability is a natural part of human diversity, not a deficit or a condition that needs a fix.Team USA’s Par...
Paralympians Andrew Kurka, Patrick Halgren and Matthew Brewer cherished recent descents down Cortina d’Ampezzo’s revered Olympia delle Tofane race hill.Competing at the FIS Para Alpine World Cup in the Italian Dolomites ski resort, Jan. 30-Feb. 2, the ...
U.S. women (and one mixed team) shined in 2023 with world titles, record-breaking performances and some notable firsts.
