Brent Lakatos

Started: He was first introduced to wheelchair racing by Paralympic champion Andre Viger at age 15 and began training full-time in 2004. (athletics.ca, 07 Nov 2019; paralympic.org, 25 Feb 2015; paralympic.ca, 11 Aug 2012) Reason: "I entered my first race - a local five kilometre event against six or seven other racers. I thought I would win easily but it didn't quite turn out that way. I finished dead last, behind even all the girls. But from that first race onwards, I was hooked. I would play wheelchair basketball during the winter and race during the summer. Then I realised I had taken basketball as far as I could. I was fast in wheelchair racing, fast at basketball and I needed to give wheelchair racing my full attention instead of splitting my time leading up to the Athens Paralympics. I knew if I wanted to make the team, I had to make some changes. I love racing." (athletics.ca, 07 Nov 2019; paralympic.org, 25 Feb 2015) Ambition: To win gold at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (lboro.ac.uk, 13 Dec 2023) Awards: He was named Best Male Athlete at the Tokyo 2020 Canadian Paralympic Sport Awards. (paralympic.ca, 31 Aug 2023) He was Canada's flag bearer at the closing ceremony of the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. (petro-canada.ca, 02 Dec 2021) He was named the 2017 Athlete of the Year by Athletics Canada. He was also named the Para Athlete of the Year in Wheelchair Events by Athletics Canada for 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021. (Athletics Canada Facebook page, 10 May 2022; athletics.ca, 06 Jan 2021; paralympic.ca, 06 Jun 2018) Additional Info: MOVE TO ENGLAND In 2013 he moved from Dallas, TX, United States of America, to England. He is married to British Para athlete Stefanie Reid. "That's why I'm in the UK [speaking in 2021], because I lived in Dallas, I worked in Dallas. And when Stefanie started with her coach over in the UK [for the 2012 Paralympic Games in London], the first year it was supposed to be a couple of training camps a year, a competition over here, and she'd be back in Dallas the rest of the time, but it ended up being four months that year that she was gone. The next year was five months, the year after that was six months. So it was either move or something has to change because I wasn't even seeing my wife. It's really great to be with somebody who's also a high performance athlete, and knows the demands that that takes. And so when she needs space, I'll give her space. When she needs support, I'll try and support her, vice versa." (lboro.ac.uk, 13 Dec 2023; Athletics Canada Facebook page, 16 Jul 2023; olympics.com, 29 Aug 2021) DISTANCE SWITCH He previously specialised in sprints, but progressed to also compete over longer distances during the course of his career. He finished fourth in the T54 marathon at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. "I know sprints to marathon is an unusual transition, but I did some research, crunched some numbers, and decided I had a chance. But there were some things I needed to work on. The obvious one being endurance. I decided to invest some time in changing my pushing technique. There were no guarantees. Not only was I unsure if I would be competitive at the longer races, I was worried my competitors would catch up to me in the sprints because I wasn't able to focus as much on them." (SportsDeskOnline, 12 Oct 2023; olympics.com, 29 Aug 2021; cbc.ca, 31 Jul 2019)

Sporting Relatives: His wife Stefanie Reid represented Great Britain in athletics at the 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020 editions of the Paralympic Games. His sister competed in swimming for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the United States of America. (SportsDeskOnline, 03 Apr 2024; lboro.ac.uk, 13 Dec 2023; mirror.co.uk, 20 Feb 2022; cbc.ca, 05 Oct 2020; paralympic.org, 25 Feb 2015; independent.co.uk, 09 Sep 2012)