A former Canadian junior hockey player who survived a deadly bus crash that killed 16 of his teammates and staff members qualified for the 2024 Paralympics.
But instead of taking to the ice, Jacob Wassermann, 24, will compete as a rower in the upcoming games.
Wassermann earned a country quota spot for Team Canada in the PR1 men’s single sculls event in Paris, Rowing Canada announced Thursday.
“SAY OUI TO PARIS!” the organization said on Instagram.
He finished in second place during the continental qualification regatta in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he locked his spot in France due to quota reallocation.
The PR1 single sculls race is one of five rowing events at the Paralympics since the sport made its debut at the games in 2008.
It is categorized for rowers who are “without trunk or leg function using two oars” and “have a strapping around their mid-section” for support and balance.
Wassermann was left paralyzed from the waist down when a truck driver collided with a bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team in rural Saskatchewan in April 2018.
Sixteen people — 10 hockey players, two coaches, a therapist, a team statistician, radio announcer and the 59-year-old bus driver — died in the tragic wreck.
Wassermann, the team’s goaltender and 18 years old at the time, was one of 13 people to survive the crash.
He also suffered a brain injury, two collapsed lungs, a broken shoulder blade, fractured ribs, nasal bone fractures and was induced in a coma, according to the Canadian Press.
The driver of the truck that caused the crash was sentenced to 8 years in prison in 2019.
Jaskirat Singh Sidhu pleaded guilty to 29 counts of dangerous driving stemming from the incident, in which he ran through a stop sign.
Wasserman briefly tried to pursue a sledge hockey career after the accident but felt that it “didn’t feel right for me,” according to radio station CJME.
He ultimately found his passion on the water.
In 2019, Wassermann competed for Canada at the world championships in adaptive water skiing, where competitors ride a modified wakeboard attached to the ski.
Wassermann then turned to rowing in October 2022 during a chance meeting at a grocery store.
“I actually ran into one of my current teammates in a grocery store, and he said it was a new thing that he was trying out,” Wasserman told Discover Humboldt. “I thought that sounded interesting and I’d love to give it a try and it started from there.”
“I’ve really started to enjoy rowing and I plan to stick with it once we get on the water. It’s an Olympic sport, so there’s more opportunity with it for sure, and there’s more exposure and supports connected to the rowing world around here just in the short time I’ve been in the sport.”
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