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Nearly six years after the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018 that left 16 people dead and another 13 badly hurt, a surviving member of that team is heading to the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
The starting goaltender of the Broncos at the time, Jacob Wassermann, has overcome odds and qualified for the Canadian Paralympic team in rowing in the PR1 men’s single category.
Wassermann, 23, was left paralyzed from the navel down following the crash. That meant he was unable to continue playing hockey.
He tried his hand at sledge hockey after the crash, but found the sport just wasn’t a proper fit for him. So last year, he decided to pick up the sport of rowing.
“I was just going to the grocery store to pick up some stuff and I ran into a buddy of mine who is also in a wheelchair that was saying he was looking into getting into a new sport. He was saying the rowing club had a give-it-a-try day,” Wassermann said in an interview with 650 CKOM in October.
“I thought, ‘That sounds like fun,’ and I was looking for a new sport. I had the build for it. I’m really tall and I like training and I sort of gave it a try and loved the community here in Saskatoon.”
Wassermann had never been in a rowing boat until that summer.
“It’s so much different (than a canoe). I had been on the water lots growing up, but rowing was something completely new,” he said.
“It’s kind of funny to see where I was to where I am now. It was really wobbly and took a long time to get that balance before I could get that training and speed under me,” he added. “It was a slow first couple weeks getting that figured out.”
Wassermann was eventually able to figure things out and won a gold medal in the Men’s PR1 single category at the 2023 National Para Rowing Championship in Victoria.
He later earned a silver medal at an event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Because of the time he posted in his event, he was able to meet a country quota and qualify for the Paris Games.
The spot on the Olympic team comes a lot earlier than Wassermann expected. He said in the fall that he thought the Los Angeles 2028 Games was a more realistic goal.
“That’s the dream,” he stated. “That’s the goal for sure. L.A. 2028 is where we’re looking to. We’ll see (about Paris in 2024) I guess. There’s a chance, but the big goal is for sure L.A.”
The 2024 Paralympics run from Aug. 28 to Sept. 8.
