Alex Zanardi, auto racing champion-turned-Paralympic gold medalist, dies at 59
Italian auto racing champion-turned-Paralympic gold medalist Alex Zanardi has died at 59.
His life was marked by two life-altering accidents.
Zanardi’s family announced his death on Saturday saying that he passed away on Friday night.
The family says in a statement that “Alex died peacefully surrounded by the affection of those closest to him.” In 2020 Zanardi was seriously injured in a handbike accident after crashing into an oncoming truck during a relay event in Tuscany.
Zanardi suffered serious facial and cranial trauma in the crash and was put in a medically induced coma.
Nearly 20 years earlier Zanardi lost both of his legs in an auto racing crash.
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