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Darren Hicks

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Darren Hicks
OAM
Darren Hicks in 2019
Personal information
NationalityAustralian
Born (1984-12-23) 23 December 1984 (age 39)
Sport
CountryAustralia
SportCycling
Disability classC2
Medal record
Cycling
Paralympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2020 Tokyo Time trial C2
Silver medal – second place 2020 Tokyo Individual pursuit C2
Bronze medal – third place 2024 Paris Time trial C2
Road World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2019 Emmen Time trial C2
Silver medal – second place 2017 Pietermaritzburg Road race C2
Silver medal – second place 2017 Pietermaritzburg Time trial C2
Silver medal – second place 2023 Glasgow Time trial C2
Silver medal – second place 2023 Glasgow Road race C2
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Maniago Road race C2
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Baie-Comeau Time trial C2
Track World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2019 Apeldoorn 3km individual pursuit C2
Silver medal – second place 2018 Rio de Janeiro Scratch race C1-3
Silver medal – second place 2022 Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Scratch Race C2
Silver medal – second place 2023 Glasgow Individual Pursuit C2

Darren Michael Hicks OAM (born 3 December 1984) is an Australian Paralympic cyclist who has won medals at several World Road and Track Championships. At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, he won a gold and a silver medal[1] and a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. [2]

His right leg was amputated above the knee as a consequence of a road crash in 2014.[3]

Personal

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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.[6] 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.[3]

Cycling

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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]

At 2024 Paris Paralympics, he won the bronze medal in the Men's road time trial C2, finished fifth in the Men's Individual pursuit C2 and thirteenth in the Men's road race C1-3.

Recognition

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  • 2018 - South Australian Sports Institute Athlete of the Year with a Disability.[15]
  • 2019 - Cycling Australia Para Male Road Cyclist of the Year.[16]
  • 2022 – Medal of the Order of Australia for service to sport as a gold medallist at the Tokyo Paralympic Games 2020 [17]
  • 2022 - AusCycling Men's Track Para-cyclist of the Year[18]
  • 2023 - AusCycling Men's Road & Track Para-cyclist of the Year[19]

References

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  1. ^ "World And Paralympic Champions Feature Among Tokyo-Bound Para-Cyclists". Paralympics Australia. 9 July 2021. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Paralympics Australia Names Cycling Team For Paris 2024 | Paralympics Australia". www.paralympic.org.au. 30 July 2024. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  3. ^ a b Fewster, Sean (2 December 2019). "2014 South Eastern Freeway crash: Darren Hicks tells how he tried to regain control as his unfamiliar truck accelerated towards disaster". The Advertiser. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Darren Hicks". Australian Cycling Team website. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  5. ^ Williams, Deanna. "Widow reveals truckie accused of killing her husband is now 'like a son to her'". Yahoo News. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  6. ^ a b c "Para Hicks grabs maiden world title". Australian Cycling Team website. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  7. ^ Fewster, Sean (15 August 2017). "Cleanaway accuses federal prosecutors of not revealing case against it over fatal 2014 South-Eastern Freeway crash". News.com.au. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  8. ^ a b "Cycling Australia Annual Report 2018" (PDF). Cycling Australia. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  9. ^ "Podium finish greets SASI stars at world titles". South Australian Sports Institute website. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  10. ^ "Australia secure eight world titles at 2020 Para-cycling Track World Championships". Cycling Australia website. 3 February 2020. Archived from the original on 4 February 2020. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  11. ^ "Australian Paralympic Team for Tokyo 2021". The Roar. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
  12. ^ "Darren Hicksd Results". Tokyo Paralympics Official Results. Archived from the original on 26 August 2021. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  13. ^ "2022 UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships Official Results" (PDF). RSSTiming. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  14. ^ "Results - UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships". UCI. 22 October 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  15. ^ "SASI'S high-flying stars celebrate a year of success". South Australian Sports Institute website. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  16. ^ "Caleb Ewan awarded 'Oppy' as 2019 Cyclist of the Year". Sportzhub. Cycling Australia. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  17. ^ "Australia Day 2022 Honours List" (PDF). Governor-General of Australia. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  18. ^ "Jai Hindley is the Santini AusCycling Cyclist of the Year". AusCycling. 14 December 2022. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  19. ^ "Amanda Reid wins the 2023 AusCycling Cyclist of the Year Award". AusCycling. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
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