Paraclimber Rachel Māia is aiming to bring home a medal for New Zealand at the climbing world championships in France, just a few months after having a below the knee amputation of her left leg.
Māia shattered her ankle in a climbing accident as a teenager, which led to degenerative and post-traumatic arthritis.
It forced her out of the sport for nearly two decades, until she started climbing again and competed at the IFSC championships in Austria in September 2018, where she finished fourth in the world in her paraclimbing division.
That accomplishment, however, was accompanied by a realisation that an amputation was something she needed to seriously consider.
"It became obvious in a bigger place that I had lost a lot of mobility," Māia told the Whanganui Cronicle in March. "I've been very sheltered in Whanganui where I can park in a mobility park then get back in the car and go down the road to another mobility park.
