Brandon Lyons
American para-cyclist (born 1990)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brandon Lyons (born June 8, 1990) is an American Para-cyclist. He represented the United States at the 2024 Summer Paralympics.
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 8, 1990[1] Langhorne, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Education | Pennsylvania State University |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Para-cycling |
| Disability class | H3 |
Medal record | |
Career
In 2017, Lyons became the first handcyclist resident athlete at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.[2]
Lyons made his international debut for the United States at the 2019 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships and won a silver medal in the mixed team relay H1–5 event.[3]
Lyons was training to compete at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, however, an infection in his leg that progressed to the early stages of sepsis ended his chances of competing at the Paralympics.[4][5]
In August 2023, he represented the United States at the 2023 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships and won a bronze medal in the mixed team relay H1–5 event.[6][7] In November 2023, he represented the United States at the 2023 Parapan American Games and won a silver medal in the road time trial H1–5 event and a bronze medal in the road race H3–5 event.[8]
On July 8, 2024, Lyons qualified to represent the United States at the 2024 Summer Paralympics.[9][10]
Personal life
On May 24, 2014, during a vacation in Ocean City, Maryland, Lyons dove from a pier into shallow water breaking his T5/T6 vertebrae which left him paralyzed from the chest down.[11] In 2015, he underwent a surgery where they opened his spinal cord and injected 1.2 million stem cells at his injury location, as part of a stem cell clinical trial.[12]