Darren Hicks Explained

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Darren Hicks
Nationality:Australian
Birth Date:23 December 1984
Country:Australia
Sport:Cycling
Disability Class:C2

Darren Michael Hicks (born 3 December 1984) is an Australian Paralympic cyclist who has won medals at several World Road and Track Championships. His right leg was amputated above the knee as a consequence of a road crash in 2014.[1] At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, he won a gold and a silver medal.[2] He has been selected for the 2024 Paris Paralympics. [3]

Personal

Hicks was born 23 December 1984.[4] In August 2014, he was driving a sewage waste truck downhill on Adelaide's South Eastern Freeway. He lost control of the truck due to faulty brakes and the resulting crash at Glen Osmond killed two people.[5] A report prepared for the court in 2017 concluded the truck's brakes were faulty and that neither Hicks nor Cleanaway were aware and police charges were dropped in January 2019. The accident result in Hicks having his right leg amputated.[6] [7] Hicks had held his heavy vehicle licence for a month, and it was his fifth day working for that employer. It was the first day he had been alone on the job, and he was assigned an older, different model of truck than he had driven before. In December 2019, he told the court (in proceedings against his former employer) that he had not been asked if he knew how to drive a manual truck down that long descent. The truck's brakes failed, and it collided with three cars waiting at traffic lights at the end of the freeway. Two people were killed, another left with serious injuries, and Hicks' leg was amputated to extract him from the wreckage of the truck.[1]

Cycling

Hicks is classified as a C2 cyclist. His first major international competition was the 2017 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa where he won silver medals in the Men's Time Trial C2 and the Men's Road Race C2.[4] At the 2018 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Hicks won the silver medal in the Men's Scratch Race C1-3.[8] He won the bronze medal in the Men's Road Race C2 at the 2018 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, Maniago, Italy.[8] He finished fourth in the Men's C2 Time Trial.[9]

At the 2019 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, he won the gold medal in the Men's 3 km Pursuit C2.[6]

At the 2020 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, Milton, Ontario, he finished fourth in the Men's 3 km Pursuit C2 and ninth in the Men's Scratch Race C2.[10]

At the 2020 Summer Paralympics, Hicks won the gold medal in the Men's Road Time Trial C2 with a time of 34:39.78. He also won a silver medal in the Men's 3km Pursuit C2 with a time of 3:35.064, less than 4 seconds behind Alexandre Léauté of France who broke the world record.[11] In the Men's Road Race C1-3, he finished twelfth.[12]

Hicks won the bronze medal in the Men's Time Trial C3 and finished 5th in the Men's Road Race C3 2022 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships in Baie-Comeau.[13]

At the 2022 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France, he won the silver medal in Men's Scratch C2[14]

Recognition

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: 2014 South Eastern Freeway crash: Darren Hicks tells how he tried to regain control as his unfamiliar truck accelerated towards disaster . Sean . Fewster . The Advertiser. 2 December 2019 . 7 December 2019.
  2. Web site: 9 July 2021. World And Paralympic Champions Feature Among Tokyo-Bound Para-Cyclists. live. 10 July 2021. Paralympics Australia. https://web.archive.org/web/20210709025011/https://www.paralympic.org.au/2021/07/world-and-paralympic-champions-feature-among-tokyo-bound-para-cyclists/ . 9 July 2021 .
  3. Web site: 2024-07-30 . Paralympics Australia Names Cycling Team For Paris 2024 Paralympics Australia . 2024-07-30 . www.paralympic.org.au . en-AU.
  4. Web site: Darren Hicks . Australian Cycling Team website . 15 March 2019.
  5. News: Williams . Deanna . Widow reveals truckie accused of killing her husband is now 'like a son to her' . Yahoo News . 15 March 2019.
  6. Web site: Para Hicks grabs maiden world title . Australian Cycling Team website . 16 March 2019.
  7. News: Fewster . Sean . Cleanaway accuses federal prosecutors of not revealing case against it over fatal 2014 South-Eastern Freeway crash . 15 March 2019 . News.com.au . 15 August 2017.
  8. Web site: Cycling Australia Annual Report 2018 . Cycling Australia . 15 March 2019.
  9. Web site: Podium finish greets SASI stars at world titles . South Australian Sports Institute website . 15 March 2019.
  10. Web site: Australia secure eight world titles at 2020 Para-cycling Track World Championships. 3 February 2020. Cycling Australia website. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200204032034/https://cycling.org.au/nat/australia-secure-eight-world-titles-2020-para-cycling-track-world-championships . 4 February 2020 . 4 February 2020.
  11. Web site: Australian Paralympic Team for Tokyo 2021 . 2022-06-17 . The Roar . en-US.
  12. Web site: Darren Hicksd Results. live. 26 August 2021. Tokyo Paralympics Official Results. https://web.archive.org/web/20210826082430/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/paralympic-games/en/results/cycling-track/athlete-profile-n1404428-hicks-darren.htm . 26 August 2021 .
  13. Web site: 2022 UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships Official Results . 14 August 2022 . RSSTiming.
  14. Web site: 22 October 2022 . Results - UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships . 23 October 2022 . UCI.
  15. Web site: SASI'S high-flying stars celebrate a year of success . South Australian Sports Institute website . 16 March 2019.
  16. Web site: Caleb Ewan awarded 'Oppy' as 2019 Cyclist of the Year. 16 December 2019. Cycling Australia. Sportzhub. 17 February 2023.
  17. Web site: Australia Day 2022 Honours List. 26 January 2022. Governor-General of Australia.
  18. Web site: 14 December 2022 . Jai Hindley is the Santini AusCycling Cyclist of the Year . 15 December 2022 . AusCycling.
  19. Web site: Amanda Reid wins the 2023 AusCycling Cyclist of the Year Award . 2023-12-22 . AusCycling . en-au.

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