Jacob Wassermann, who survived a deadly bus crash in Canada that killed 16 of his teammates and hockey club staff members nearly six years ago, has qualified for rowing in the 2024 Paralympics in Paris.
The Canadian Paralympic Team shared the news of Wassermann’s qualification on social media Thursday, nearly a week after the 24-year-old won silver in the Continental Qualification Regatta in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Jacob Wassermann of the Humboldt Broncos waves to the audience onstage during the 2018 NHL Awards presented by Hulu at The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino June 20, 2018, in Las Vegas. (Eliot J. Schechter/NHLI via Getty Images)
His finish there helped him earn a country quota spot in the PR1 men’s single event for Team Canada.
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Wassermann’s wife, Maddison Wassermann, shared in a separate post that the former Canadian junior hockey player has only been participating in the sport for a little over a year.
“He’s only been rowing for a year and a half and to finish second at an international competition is extremely impressive,” she wrote in a caption on Instagram last weekend.
Canada’s Jacob Wassermann competes during the men’s single sculls PR1 M1x final of the Americas Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta at the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 16, 2024. (Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images)
“I have seen Jacob put in countless hours training and working hard for this moment. I can’t even begin to describe how proud I am of him!!! He truly is a remarkable individual.”
Wassermann qualified for the Paralympics nearly six years after 16 members of the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team were killed when a bus carrying the team to a playoff game collided with a semitrailer in Saskatchewan.
Goaltender Jacob Wassermann of the Humboldt Broncos attends a press conference prior to the 2018 NHL Awards at the Encore Las Vegas June 19, 2018, in Las Vegas. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
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In 2019, the truck driver was sentenced to eight years in prison for charges related to dangerous driving. According to the CBC, he was granted parole in 2023 but is fighting deportation to India.
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