Jeff Hanson, Narrandera Argus
Josh Hanlon was once earmarked to play football at the highest level.
The former Ganmain and Tullibigeal player, who at the time was playing with North Wagga in the Farrer League, had been recruited by the GWS Giants and was playing under 19s representative football, and surely looked on his way to a career in the AFL.
It wasn’t to be for the Weethalle product though, who suffered a near-fatal bacterial infection, which led to a double below-knee amputation and hand amputation in 2018.
The former student and boarder from St Francis de Sales Regional College, known as a kind and caring student, who always looked out for others, ended up finding other ways to harness his sporting prowess.
The 24-year-old has since taken up the sport of skiing, and as part of the Australian Winter Para-Alpine development squad, classified as an LW-12/2, he made his World Championship debut in Lillehammer Norway in January, finishing eighth in the Giant Slalom and Men’s Slalom.
Fast-forward to February and Hanlon is now preparing for his Winter Paralympic debut in both the Giant Slalom and Slalom disciplines in Beijing.
Known affectionally as ‘Chooka’, Hanlon said he couldn’t be happier with his preparation leading into the Beijing Winter Paralympics.
“My preparation has been really good,” Hanlon said.
“We had a good race month last month. I went to the World Champs, and I went up to Sweden and did some racing up there.
“I got some good results and got my qualification into the (Winter Paralympic) Games.”
Miraculously, Hanlon was only dealing with a broken back last year, but he still managed to qualify for Beijing.
“I was training hard before I went head to Beijing,” Hanlon said.
“It was only six months ago, and I just had a big stack during our season in Perisher, but I came away alright, and walked out of hospital the next day with a broken back, and with rehab, I started skiing five and a half weeks after I had the stack.
“I got a few days training in before we packed up at Perisher and had a few big months in the gym before coming over here and really got stuck into training and racing over here.”
Hanlon said local support from the Riverina and Australia kept driving his success.
“It’s crazy what everyone back home did in the early days, and what they still continue to do,” Hanlon said.
“It’s such a big help knowing that everyone is cheering me on.”
In a big week for Hanlon, he will kick-off his Winter Paralympics campaign on Sunday when contesting the Men’s Giant Slalom before taking on the Slalom event on Wednesday.
This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 10 February 2022.
