Ness
Murby

Ness Murby is a Canadian Paralympian who competes in ParaAthletics Men’s F11 Discus.

He is of dual nationalities, born in Australia and became a Canadian citizen in 2014. Born with a rare congenital condition affecting his vision, he competes in the F11 classification. Murby has represented three countries in three ParaSports: Australia, Japan, Canada; Goalball, Powerlifting, ParaAthletics. Competing internationally since 2005, he holds world records as well as world, continental, and national titles. In 2012 he talent transferred to ParaAthletics and has represented Team Canada since 2015. Competing in the F11/T11 classification for visually impaired athletes, he trains and competes with a sports assistant. He and Eva Fejes have been working together since 2010.

In 2020 Ness came out publicly as transgender and became the first openly trans Paralympian. In May 2022 he made history as the the first openly trans Paralympian to compete in the men’s division. He continues to train and compete in the men’s division with the goal of getting to the Paris 2023 World Para Athletics Championships and 2024 Paris Paralympic Games (he would be the first openly trans man and Paralympian to do so). He strives to carve out space for trans athletes to compete as their authentic selves.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Murby’s Para athletics career began as a side note to his powerlifting training. It all started with a shotput and a small grassy patch next to a tennis court at Tokyo University in Japan.

In 2012 he immigrated to British Columbia where he sought coaching in shotput. In May 2014 he was introduced to Javelin and Discus and by the end of that season he had broken the Canadian record in F11 Javelin and qualified for the Canadian National Team for both F11 Javelin and F11 Discus.

Murby was selected for his first Canadian National Team for the Toronto ParaPanAm Games where he won silver in F11 javelin and bronze in the F11 discus. That same year, he was selected to the Canadian National Team for the 2015 World ParaAthletics Championships in Doha where he won another silver medal for Canada in F11 javelin.

Murby retired from both Shotput and Powerlifting in 2015.

Murby’s first Paralympics were the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. He competed in F11 discus and came 6th. F11 Javelin was not a contested event. He returned to the podium at the London 2017 World Para Athletics Championships, earning a bronze for Canada in F11 Javelin and finished his season ranked 1st in the world.

In 2018 F11 Javelin was removed from the list of World Para Athletics Championship contested events. Murby now focuses solely on Discus.

Murby competed at the 2019 Dubai World Para Athletics Championships earning 6th place and throwing his furthest major games distance. In 2021 he qualified World Top8 for team selection to the Tokyo 2021 Paralympic Games however was not selected to the Canadian National Team.

PERSONAL

Dad, Husband, Paralympian and transgender. Ness is a counsellor, inclusion strategist, independent consultant and the cofounder of TougherThan. Ness is also an advocate for trans rights and speaks on protecting trans youth in sport and community. 

NOTABLE INTERNATIONAL RESULTS

2019 IPC World Championships discus 6th
2017 IPC World Championships discus 6th
2017 IPC World Championships javelin 3rd
2016 Paralympic Games discus 6th
2015 IPC World Championships discus 6th
2015 IPC World Championships javelin 2nd
2015 Parapan American Games discus 3rd
2015 Parapan American Games javelin 2nd
2015 Parapan American Games shot put 8th
2015 IBSA World Games Discus 5th
2015 IBSA World Games shotput 4th