Sieders belated admission to Paralympics

NSWIS Paracanoe athlete Colin Sieders has been named on the Australian Paralympic Team, the announcement coming nine months after the 2015 World Championships where Sieders had believed he missed automatic qualification. 

Sieders made his name in Australian sport racing and was the only disabled person to race a V8 Supercar when he competed in the second tier development series. 

With his focus now solely on paddling, 34-year-old Sieders said the news of his selection to represent Australia in the KL1 K1 200 race in Rio came as a shock when officials told him at a training camp in Duisburg, Germany earlier this week.

“I was completely unaware this might happen,” Siders told Australian Canoeing. 

“I was sitting in my room, and was asked to come down to the foyer for a meeting. When I got there the whole team was there, and they told me congratulations, you’re going to the Paralympics!”

Sieders admission to the Australian Paralympic team arose from an administrative error that meant the Ukraine had wrongly been awarded a quota spot that should have gone to Australia. 

Sieders cites Italian Alex Zanardi, a fellow disabled motor racing driver and now dual Paralympic gold medallist, as an inspiration and said it was special to be named on the Australian team. 

“It would have been nice to have qualified straight after the race,” he said. 

“But it is still just as exciting. It was announced with all the team around, so it was pretty special.” 

While Sieders had been expecting to attempt qualification at this month’s world championships in Duisburg, he will now set his sights on preparing for the Paralympics where he will join Curtis McGrath, Amanda Reynolds and Susan Seipel on the Australian team.