Yamba’s Alexa Leary broke a Paralympic S9 record in her heat of the 50-metre freestyle in Paris last week with a blistering 27.69 second swim securing her a spot in the highly competitive final.
The budding triathlon star’s world was turned upside down in 2021 in a severe cycling crash where her front wheel clipped the bike in front of her at about 70km/h and she suffered brain damage, blood clots and several broken bones.
Just two years after this devasting incident, Alexa was chosen to represent Australia at the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships where she won gold in the 100m freestyle S9 and silver in the 50m freestyle S9.
In the final of the S9 50m freestyle at the Paris Paralympics, Alexa placed sixth with a time of 27.79 seconds, just .69 seconds behind the new world record set by the winner.
This article appeared in the Clarence Valley Independent, 4 September 2024.
