Former CART champion Alex Zanardi has successfully defended the first of his two Paralympic gold medals, taking victory in the hand cycling time trial road race in Rio.
The Italian, who lost both of his legs on Sept. 15, 2001 in a horrific crash in Germany, took victory on Wednesday with a time of 28 minutes, 36.81 seconds to claim a third career gold medal.
"Probably the most important reason which makes it very special for me to be here is the fact that where today you have the Olympic Stadium, on that piece of land they used to have an Indy-car circuit, which is where I won my very first pole position," Zanardi said.
Zanardi, 49, enjoyed an impressive career in motorsports which yielded two CART championship titles and drives in Formula 1 for Jordan, Minardi, Lotus and Williams.
His career looked to have come to a shattering halt in 2001 when Zanardi lost both of his legs in an Indy car crash on Germany’s Lausitzring. Zanardi never gave up on returning to racing and has since raced in the World Touring Car Championship -- four wins and multiple podiums to his name -- and the Blancpain Sprint Series.
Zanardi could add another two medals to his collection in both the upcoming Men’s Road Race H5 and the Mixed Team Relay H2-5.
