Colin Sieders

Colin Sieders (born 19 January 1982) is an Australian paracanoeist and former racing driver. He competed for Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. In 1997, he was involved in a car accident on his way to soccer when the car he was travelling lost control on black ice and crashed into a pole. The driver of the car was killed. CareFlight responded to the accident and Sieders believes that they saved his life. He spent 88 days in intensive care, underwent 30 operations over 51 weeks in hospital. He was initially told he would never walk again. A second car accident in December 2011 resulted in him being back in a wheelchair and limited walking through the use of crutches . He took up paracanoe after the accident to improve his fitness and reduce weight gain. He said "It was developing into a serious problem so I looked around for something to do. It had to be a low-impact sport because of my injured hip. I'm a water-lover, so kayaking was the way to go".

Sporting career

Motor racing Sieders comes from a motor racing family. His father Bill, older brother Luke and younger brother David are racing drivers. Sieders was the first permanently disabled driver to race in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Development Series. 2014 – 6th K1 200 Final – 2014 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, Moscow 2016 – 8th KL1 200 Final – 2016 Rio Paralympics

National results 2014 – 1st K1 200, K1 500m, K1 1000 – National Championship, Adelaide 2015 – 1st K1 200, K1 500m K1 1000 – National Championships, Sydney 2016 – 1st KL1 200 – National Championships, Perth, Western Australia