James Barnes-Miller was a keen skateboarder as a youngster and first tried snowboarding while on holiday with friends in Bulgaria in 2010. On another snowboarding holiday in The Netherlands, James met para snowboarder and future PyeongChang 2018 teammate Owen Pick who encouraged him to get in contact with the British Parasnowsport team.

In 2017 James finished fourth in snowboard cross at the World Championships in Big White, Canada – his debut at that level.

James became the first snowboarder to represent Great Britain at the Paralympic Games when he left the gate for his snowboard cross qualification run at PyeongChang 2018. James ultimately finished seventh in the snowboard cross SB-UL and tenth in the banked slalom.

Born without a right hand, James has worked for the UK Ministry of Defence as a casualty role-play actor, helping train soldiers in field surgery and trauma first aid. He competes in the Upper Limb Impaired category.