User:BreeContributes/sandbox

Formston was born in Sydney, New South Wales. When he was five years old, he was diagnosed with macular dystrophy, a condition affecting the retina that left him with no central vision and only a small amount of peripheral vision.^[1] He continued to participate in mainstream schooling and competitive sport throughout his childhood.^[2]

Formston competed in tandem cycling for Australia between 2011 and 2016. Between 2011 and 2016 he won 10 national titles across track and road disciplines, two UCI Para-cycling World Championships medals, and held the world record in the men's 4000m individual pursuit for vision-impaired riders.^[3]

In 2013, Formston and pilot Michael Curran won gold in the tandem road race at the UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup in Matane, Canada.^[4]

At the 2014 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Aguascalientes, Mexico, Formston and Curran won gold in the 4 km pursuit, setting a world record with a time of 4:11.213, and gold in the 1 km time trial.^[5] He also won gold at the 2014 and 2015 New Zealand World Cups in both track and road events.^[3]

At the 2015 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, Formston and Curran finished second in the tandem 4 km pursuit, earning a silver medal.^[6]

Formston represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in track tandem cycling, achieving a fifth-place finish in the 4 km pursuit and sixth in the 1 km time trial.^[3] He retired from competitive cycling shortly after the Games.^[3]

After retiring from cycling, Formston transitioned to competitive para-surfing. He won the ISA World Para Surfing Championship in 2017,^[7] 2018,^[8] and 2020,^[9] in the visually impaired division. He has also won multiple national titles and international events, including four Hawaiian Adaptive Surfing Championships (2017–2021) and three U.S. Open Adaptive Surfing Championships (2017–2023).^[10]

In 2022, Formston surfed a 51-foot wave at Nazaré, Portugal, setting a Guinness World Record for the largest wave surfed by a blind surfer.^[11][12]

In 2023, Formston received the Heavy Water Award at the Surfing Australia Awards, becoming the first para surfer to receive an able-bodied award at that level.^[10]

Formston has held senior leadership roles in the telecommunications sector. He has been an employee of Optus since 2002, where he has led initiatives in sustainability, diversity, equity, and inclusion.^[13]

Formston was elected inaugural Chair of Surfing Australia's Para-Surfing Council, a body created to foster input from the para-surfing community and identify priority initiatives for the sport in Australia.^[14] He is also a member of the Evidence Advisory Committee for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), appointed by the Australian Government to provide advice on the suitability of disability supports for NDIS funding.^[15]

Formston has served as a director on the board of Blind Sports NSW.^[16] Since 2018, he has run surfing clinics for blind and low-vision children, teaching them to use sound, touch, and other senses to experience the ocean.^[17]

Surfing in the Dark, a children's picture book about Formston's life, was written by John Dickson and illustrated by Philip Bunting, published by Berbay Books in partnership with Vision Australia in March 2023 as the first title in their Big Visions series. The book features both printed text and braille on every page, and has been included on the Premier's Reading List across all Australian states.^[18][17]

Formston is the subject of the 2024 documentary The Blind Sea, directed by Daniel Fenech, which had its world premiere at the Sydney Film Festival in June 2024 before a national cinema release in August 2024 and subsequently streaming on Netflix.^[19][20]

In 2024, Formston was named a finalist for the Blind Australian of the Year Award.^[21]

Member of the Order of Australia (AM), 2025 Australia Day Honours, for significant service to people with disability and to para sports.^[22][23]