Alexandra Lisney

Alex Lisney, who has mild cerebral palsy affecting the left side of her body, was a netball, hockey and touch football player prior to discovering Para-sport. Her interest was sparked after reading an article about a Para-equestrian athlete with a similar disability to hers, vying for selection for the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing.

At a Paralympics Australia Talent Search Day, Alex learned that she was most suited to rowing due to her height and long limbs. Less than 18 months after taking it up, she was selected to represent Australia at the 2009 World Rowing Championships in Poznan, Poland, where she placed 6^th.

Keeping her options open for Paralympic qualification, Alex decided to try her hand at cycling, a sport that would allow her to focus solely on herself. This decision paid immediate dividends; she won the individual pursuit at the NSW Track State Championships that year. Alex believes that her rowing experience equipped her with the endurance she needed to win the title.

In 2011 she won bronze in the individual pursuit at the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Montichiari, Italy, and in 2012 she nabbed the world title. In her Paralympic debut at London 2012, Alex won bronze in the same event behind teammate and gold medallist Susan Powell.

Alex, whose pre-competition routine is to put her right shoe on before her left, competed in four events at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, just missing a podium finish in the time trial.

She says that her greatest sporting moment to date is seeing the crowd go wild when British Olympic distance runner Mo Farah won gold at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. This was when she realised the significance of representing Australia at the Paralympic Games.

The Mosman local credits her family as being the most influential people in her life, as they were ones who taught her the importance of working as part of a team to overcome obstacles, a lesson she says has helped her in sport and in life.