Don Mixon Jr. won the 1981 Junior Boys national barefoot slalom and overall titles and his scores were high enough to put him into the Open Men Division at the tender age of 13. As an Open Men competitor, he competed in every Barefoot Nationals until 1996, with the exception of the 1995 national championships due to injury. He was a member of every U.S. Barefoot Team from 1984 to 1996. He contributed points in every world championships he competed in and his contributions helped the U.S team win gold at every world championships in which he was a team member. As an individual competitor, he captured the silver medal in slalom at the 1985 and 1994 Barefoot Worlds. A slalom specialist, he set the world slalom record four times. He also was the first barefooter to do a front-to-back positional turn before his back slalom pass and the first barefooter to do a wake 360 turn (unwrapped) in a tournament. He won the Open Men national slalom title in 1985 and 1994, and the Open Men national jumping title in 1996.