UNBeknownst Podcast Episode 46
Paralympic cyclist Alexandre Hayward (BScEng'23) had a big year in 2024: he opened the season with gold in the C3 time trial and bronze in the road race at World Cup in Australia and added a time trial bronze at a second stop in Belgium. At the track worlds in Rio, he took silver in the men's C3 scratch race. Then came the big one – the Paralympics in Paris last August, where he won the bronze medal in the men's C3 3,000-metre Individual Pursuit at the Paris velodrome.
Alex burst onto the national and international Para cycling stage in 2022, after playing wheelchair basketball for New Brunswick at the Canada Winter Games and the Canadian junior team. In 2012, at the age of 16, Alex suffered an incomplete spinal cord injury, and his aspirations to pursue professional-level hockey ended. His everyday became about discovering if he'd walk and have normal body function again. Eventually, basketball, and then cycling, became a passion. Alex also graduated UNB in 2023 from the bachelor of engineering program, and spent a summer at UNB's Institute of Biomedical Engineering as an intern, and has a burgeoning interest in biomedical research.
Hosts Kayla Ossachuk (BA'15) and Andrew Martel (BCS'15) chat with Alex about his story and lessons he learned, as well as how he stays motivated and mentally and physically fit.
Listen to the episode
Highlights from the episode
- Alex's accident and his recovery
- How he got into wheelchair basketball, and then cycling
- The experience of Paris 2024 and other world-class competitions
- Alex's experience in biomedical engineering at UNB and his future plans
- How he says motivated and fit.
Links and resources:
Thanks to:
- Our alumni hosts Kayla Ossachuk (BA'15) and Andrew Martel (BCS'15)
- Music by alumni artist, Beats of Burden
- Our alumni Affinity Partners, TD Insurance and Manulife
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