 2016 Australian Paralympic team portrait | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nickname | Formo | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1978-07-21)21 July 1978 (age 47)[1] | |||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||
| Disability | Visual impairment | |||||||||||||||||
| Club | Central Coast | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Matthew FormstonOAM (born 21 July 1978) is a legally blind Australian Professional Para Surfer and former professional Para Cyclist.[2] Formston won gold and silver medals at the 2014 and 2015UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships and represented Australia with pilotNick Yallouris, at the2016 Rio Paralympics.[2] Formston also holds three consecutive world titles forSurfing (2017, 2018 and 2020) at the ISA Para Surfing World Championships[3] (VI Division) as the 2016 to 2019 Australian Champion, 2018 and 2019 US Adaptive Open (Gold) and 2017, 2018, 2019 Dukes Ocean Fest Hawaii Gold medalist.[4]
Formston was born on 21 July 1978 in Sydney, New South Wales. At the age of five, Formston was diagnosed withMacular Dystrophy eventually reducing his sight to 0% central vision and 3%peripheral vision.[5] He is legally blind. With a Diploma of Health Science[1] and extensive business and competitive sport experience, Formston holds a national executive role as Head of Sustainability andCorporate Social Responsibility.[6]
Formston's cycling career began in 2009 while on a charity ride for the Macular Disease Foundation.[7] The ride took Formston fromSydney toMelbourne and he successfully completed it on a single bike. In 2012, Formston was named the Central Coast Cyclist of the Year.[1] Formston originally rode competitively withPhillip Thuaux in 2010 before pairing with Mick Curran in 2012 as a tandem partner and the pair were known as OzTandem.[8] Curran, a fully sighted competitor, held the role of pilot for the duo. They went on to win gold in both track and road cycling on most continents around the globe and amassed 12 Australian National Titles between 2012 and 2016.[9]
At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, Formston's new cycling pilot wasNick Yallouris fromChittaway Point, New South Wales eventually announcing his retirement from competitive cycling the same year.[2]
As a professional surfer, Formston is the current Para Surfing World Champion, winning the 2017, 2018 and 2020 ISA World Para Surfing Championships (VI Division).[10] He won the 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 Australian Championships as well as the 2018 and 2020 US Adaptive Open (Gold).[11] In addition, Formston achieved the 2017, 2018 and 2019 Dukes Ocean Fest Hawaii (Gold).[4]
