Alex Zanardi achieved enormous success both as a racing car driver and as a para athlete. However, the general public remembers him for one of the worst accidents in motorsport history.
Alex Zanardi’s horrific accident in September 2001 changed the man’s life. PDO
How the hell did Alex Zanardi survive?
That’s what everyone was wondering on September 15, 2001.
Pictures are known to tell more than a thousand words. And the photos taken from Zanardi’s accident are no exception.
Rough hit
Alex Tagliani (blue car) has just hit Alex Zanardi’s car. The impact to the side of the car near the driver’s legs was brutal. PDO
The CART series oval race at Germany’s Lausitzring took a rough turn 12 laps before the finish line.
Pressing the gas pedal too hard caused the car driven by Zanardi to spin from the pit road into the middle of the oval track. The one who came from behind With Alex Tagliani there was no way to outrun his rival.
The contact at a speed of more than 300 kilometers per hour was the worst possible. It happened in the “T-corner”. In Finnish: The front of Tagliani’s car hit the side of Zanardi’s car.
The contact point was the front part of the car’s cabin. The place where the feet were located.
The imperfect is the correct form.
After the contact, the front part of Zanardi’s car was completely cut off. So are the man’s legs.
The photos of the situation are grim. What everyone can see with their own eyes does not need a verbal explanation.
Back from the gates of death
A disconsolate sight awaited the doctors. PDO
Emergency personnel were on the scene in seconds. They faced a disconsolate sight.
Zanardi was lying in his car, but the man’s entire lower body was missing. The legs were gone, there were no two words about it.
The doctors found that Zanard was still alive. A battle for life and death began.
Having lost almost all the blood in his body, Zanardi was rushed to the hospital for intensive care. There, the top athlete showed his tenacity by returning to the books of the living.
After discovering his legs were missing, Zanardi showed an admirable attitude towards his new life.
– I didn’t think about what I lack, but what I have left, Zanardi said in his biography.
Return
Zanard’s life continued with leg prostheses, but he didn’t need them when playing sports. PDO
The lack of legs did not stop Zanard from returning to the wheel of a racing car just two years later.
Two years after his accident, Zanardi demonstratively completed his missing 12 laps on the same Lausitzring track.
Moving the gas and brake to the steering wheel made it possible to continue racing for years.
Success came, but gradually Zanardi shifted his eyes to a different kind of challenge.
Zanardi, who found a new passion in handcycling, became one of the biggest names in the history of para sports, as he dominated the sport for years. Along with the trophies from motor sports, the Prize Cabinet was filled with, among other things, five gold medals from the Paralympics.
Collision with a truck
Zanardi had his last accident with such a racing bike. EPA / AOP
On June 19, 2020, Zanardi was completing his leg of the La Grande Staffetta paracycling relay when he collided with a truck.
Critically injured again, Zanardi suffered serious head injuries this time. The collision was described as “horrendous”.
After the accident, Zanardi no longer appeared in public. Over the years, his family gave very little information about the man’s health and recovery.
Zanardi was in a coma for a long time in the hospital until he was able to be cared for at home.
In December 2020, he was reported to see and respond to sensory stimuli. He also underwent numerous surgeries to operate on his badly damaged skull.
In her last years, Zanard was cared for at her husband’s home. In May 2026, his family announced of the tenacious fighter transferred to the heavenly sports arenas.
– Alex slept peacefully surrounded by his loved ones, the family announced.
