Alex Zanardi, the Italian auto racing champion-turned-Paralympic gold medalist whose career was marked by two life-altering accidents, has died. He was 59. Zanardi's family announced his death on Saturday, stating that he passed away on Friday night.
"Alex died peacefully, surrounded by the affection of those closest to him," the family said in a statement without providing a cause of death. In 2020, Zanardi was seriously injured in a handbike accident after crashing into an oncoming truck during a relay event in Tuscany. He suffered serious facial and cranial trauma and was placed in a medically induced coma.
Nearly 20 years earlier, Zanardi lost both of his legs in an auto racing crash. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni paid tribute, saying, "Italy loses a great champion and an extraordinary man, capable of turning every challenge of life into a lesson in courage, strength, and dignity."
Zanardi won two championships in CART (1997 and 1998) in the United States before a brief return to Formula One. In 2001, while racing in Germany, both of his legs were severed in a horrific accident. After the crash, he was in a coma for three days, and his heart stopped at least once.
During his recovery, Zanardi designed his own prosthetics and learned to walk again. He then turned to hand cycling, becoming one of the most accomplished athletes in the world. He won four gold medals and two silvers at the 2012 and 2016 Paralympics, competed in the New York City Marathon, and set an Ironman record.
"Probably a lot of people watching me doing this to some degree against all odds maybe they are going to say, 'Bloody hell, if Zanardi did this, I can try,'" he told the Associated Press in 2012. His spirit, will, and determination gave him a larger-than-life persona. In 2019, he returned to the U.S. to compete for BMW at the Rolex 24 of Daytona without his prosthetics, earning admiration from drivers worldwide.
Stefano Domenicali, president and CEO of F1, called Zanardi "truly an inspirational person, as a human and as an athlete." The International Automobile Federation (FIA) said his journey made him "an enduring symbol of courage and determination."
Zanardi's death occurred on the same day as Ayrton Senna's fatal crash in 1994. The funeral will be held Tuesday in Padua. A moment of silence was observed before Saturday's F1 sprint race in Miami Gardens, Florida. Zanardi is survived by his wife, Daniela, and son, Niccolò.
