Zanardi transferred to Padua
Former champ turned Paralympic athlete injured in June crash
Italian auto racing championturned-paralympic gold medalist Alex Zanardi was transferred to a hospital in Padua on Saturday to continue his recovery, more than five months after he was seriously injured in a handbike crash.
Zanardi underwent several surgeries at hospitals in Siena and later in Milan to stabilize him and reconstruct his severely damaged face after crashing into an oncoming truck during a relay event near the Tuscan town of Pienza on June 19.
“The patient has reached a generally stable physical and neurological condition that permitted his transfer to another hospital equipped with all the necessary clinical specialties and closer to the family home,” the San Raffaele hospital in Milan said in a statement.
The 54-year-old Zanardi suffered serious facial and cranial trauma in the crash and was put in a medically induced coma. Doctors have warned of possible brain damage.
Zanardi won four gold medals and two silvers at the 2012 and 2016 Paralympics. He also competed in the New York City Marathon and set an Ironman record in his class.
Zanardi lost both of his legs in an auto racing crash nearly 20 years ago.
A part-time Formula One driver in the early 1990s, Zanardi achieved his greatest success when he moved to the United States to race for Chip Ganassi’s CART team. He was Rookie of the Year in the series in 1996, and won back-to-back titles in 1997 and 1998.
He returned to Formula One in 1999 to drive for Williams, but after an unsucessful campaign he returned to CART in 2001. It was in an accident during a September race in Germany that Zanardi suffered severe injuries requiring the amputation of his legs.