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Brent Lakatos

Brent Lakatos
2013 IPC Athletics World Championships - 26072013 - Brent Lakatos winner of the Men's 100m - T53.jpg
Lakatos at the 2013 World Championships
Personal information
Birth name Brent Lakatos
Born (1980-06-01) 1 June 1980 (age 36)
Dorval, Quebec, Canada
Residence England, United Kingdom
Sport
Disability class T53

Brent Lakatos (born 1 June 1980) is a Canadian wheelchair racer in the T53 classification. Lakatos has represented Canada at three Summer Paralympics, and at the 2012 Games he won three silver medals in the sprint and mid-distance events. In 2013 Lakatos reached the pinnacle of his sport when he collected four gold medals at the IPC Athletics World Championships and became world champion at his classification in the 100m, 200m and 400m events.

Lakatos came from a sporting family and was swimming by the age of four. When he was six years-old a freak ice-skating accident resulted in the formation of a blood clot on his spine that left his legs paralyzed.

Lakatos is married to Great Britain Paralympic sprinter and long jumper, Stefanie Reid and as of 2012 they live together in Britain.

Although Lakatos had taken part in racing events during the summer months since 1996, he did not initially take to athletics and was far more interested in wheelchair basketball, playing for the University of Texas. Eight months before the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Lakatos decided to switch sports permanently to wheelchair racing. At that time Lakatos was competing as a T54 athlete having not yet received an International IPC Classication. In 2004 he finally qualified and was selected for the 2004 Summer Paralympics, this was quite an accomplishment for him in the T54 class, a class he was incorrectly placed in. He raced in the 100m, 200m, 4 × 100 m relay and 4 × 400 m relay, though he failed to qualify for the finals in the solo events and in the relays Canada came fourth in the finals of the 4 × 100 m and were disqualified in the 4 × 400 m.

Lakatos' career changed when receiving his International IPC Classification at the 2004 Paralympics, he was reclassified as a T53 racer. He now found that instead of struggling to just qualify he was now one of the fastest athletes in his new class and in 2007 he was breaking Canadian wheelchair sprint records.

Lakatos again qualified for the Canadian team in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. He was entered for the 100m, 200m and 400 m T53 events, and whereas in 2004 he failed to qualify for the finals, he now qualified for all three finals. Despite his best efforts, Lakatos could only finish between 5th and 6th in all three final races. Lakatos bettered these results when he raced in the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships, finishing third in the 100m and second in the 200m finals.


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