Building a Better Athlete

By Krista Mahr

Kevin Carroll Lost limbs are no bar to competing or excelling at sports, thanks to improved spare parts

DESIGNER Perspective can be everything. In January, when the International Association of Athletics Federations ruled that Oscar Pistorius' artificial legs gave the sprinter an unfair edge in Olympic competition, prosthetics designer Kevin Carroll wasn't surprised. The industry, he says, "knew this was coming. And isn't it wonderful that it's here?"

For Carroll, 49, who has been developing and fitting artificial limbs for more than 25 years, the IAAF's decision was not so much a setback as a welcome reminder of how far prosthetics technology has come. Vice president of prosthetics for Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics in Maryland, Carroll has become a go-to guy for disabled athletes who want to take artificial limbs to the extreme not only in competition but also in sports like ice-climbing, rock-climbing and skiing. He has created everything from prosthetic legs that function as crampons to feet that lock directly into ski bindings. "You have to learn not to say never with these guys," says Carroll. "If you do, they're going to go out and prove you wrong."

Cameron Clapp, who lost both legs and an arm after being hit by a train seven years ago, surfs, golfs, runs, swims and skis, among other things. One of the first doctors Clapp saw after his accident told the family that Clapp would spend 99% of his life in a wheelchair. "He didn't know what I was capable of," says Clapp, now 22. Eventually, his family helped him find Carroll, who has been working with him ever since.

Carroll's ability to harness his clients' drive is pushing the industry forward. Developing gear for athletes like Clapp and Warren Macdonald, a double-leg amputee who has used Carroll's designs to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and the face of El Capitan, has led to the introduction of better mainstream limbs for people who don't use them to ascend ice walls. "We come up with a one-off thing, and we wind up with some phenomenal technology," says Carroll. For his clients, that means equally phenomenal mobility.