Geelong Paralympian Sam McIntosh has eyes on Paris podium after multiple fourth-place finishes

In January, Geelong Paralympian Sam McIntosh found himself in hospital, undergoing surgery for internal bleeding. Now, eight months later, he’ll go for gold in Paris in a fourth games appearance.

Geelong wheelchair sprinter Sam McIntosh overcame a hospital stay in January to qualify for his fourth Paralympic Games in 2024. Picture: Brad Fleet

A burning desire for a breakthrough medal has driven Geelong Paralympian Sam McIntosh for three years, but surgery and a subsequent fender bender this year were just two challenges the wheelchair sprinter has had to overcome on the road to Paris.

The 34-year-old becomes a four-time Paralympian in Paris this week — the Games open overnight Wednesday — where he will contest the T52 100m and 400m events.

Appearing at every games since London 2012, McIntosh said his fourth appearance was another chance to “not finish fourth” — a position McIntosh has become accustomed too in both the 100m finals at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

“If I can get rid of the fourth placed champion of the world status, that’d be nice,” McIntosh said with a laugh.

Geelong wheelchair sprinter Sam McIntosh is determined to push for a breakthrough Paralympics medal in Paris. Picture: Brad Fleet

Despite a strong 2023 season, qualifying for his fourth Games wasn’t without its challenges for McIntosh.

Finding himself in hospital in late January, McIntosh recalled needing surgery and multiple blood transfusions for internal bleeding caused by medical complications from his disability — McIntosh a quadriplegic since the age of 17 after breaking his neck falling off his BMX bike.

“It’s been a bit of an ongoing issue but it just kind of culminated in the United States — I was over there with my partner and it just progressively got worse,” he said.

Flying home to seek treatment, McIntosh later found himself out of his chair for more than a month as he recovered.

It made for a mad rush to get the qualifying times he needed, impress selectors and push his case for Paralympic selection, his last chance to do so coming in Switzerland in June.

“Getting the phone call and actually getting selected was a big sigh of relief,” he said.

Geelong wheelchair sprinter Sam McIntosh wants to embrace the crowds in Paris after the “weird experience” of the Covid-affected Tokyo Games. Picture: Brad Fleet

But in another stressor McIntosh didn’t need in the lead-up to Paris, the Ocean Grove resident had found himself reliant on friends and family for lifts to training and classes at Deakin University, after his car was “sandwiched” and written off in Melbourne on the way to the Victorian Institute Sport.

“A little whiplash but it wasn’t anything super lingering,” he said of the effects of the crash.

“But no Buenos on having a car right now.”

Joined in Paris by sister Kate, a staff member for the Australian Paralympics’ athletics team, McIntosh said he’d use the T52 400m event, scheduled for the second day of competition to “dust of the cobwebs” ahead of his primary focus, the 100m, from September 6.

But while his near-misses with the podium have been his biggest motivation since Tokyo, McIntosh knows it will all come down to how he races on the day.

“Honestly it’s so close at the front of that pack, you could finish first or you could finish eighth in a blink of an eye,” he said.

McIntosh, who relies on sponsorship and donations to compete, is looking forward to the full games experience in Paris, after feeling “left jibbed” by no crowds in Tokyo.

“Because we were in the Covid bubble it didn’t really feel like a proper Paralympics that’d we’d experienced in the past,” he said.

“It was very quiet in Tokyo, just a few staff members trying to cheer you on in the stands.

“So having seen the Olympics (this month) and everyone getting out and about enjoying it, I’m really looking forward to having a proper, big world team Paralympics experience again.”

• To support McIntosh, head to https://www.sammcintosh.com/.

Originally published as Geelong Paralympian Sam McIntosh has eyes on Paris podium after multiple fourth-place finishes