Starting this year, Axians is sponsoring top athlete Louis Clincke on his way to the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. Today he is overall winner in the World Cup Para-cycling in the road race. An ideal moment to get to know the person behind the athlete.
In May 2013, Louis crashed badly on his motorcycle and, after a long rehabilitation journey, went looking for a new challenge. “They gave me a 3% survival rate, but I stayed positive and fought back.” Forty surgeries and one successful fair race in 2017 later, he resolutely chose life as an elite athlete in “Men Cycling” with impairment grade 4 (MC4). “The lower your disability grade, the more severe your disability. And just like classic elite athletes, we have tight training and nutrition schedules.” It helped him to bronze at the World Cycling Championships in Maniago, Italy, in the summer of 2018. “Along with my marriage to Lien, one of the two most unforgettable moments that year.”
Louis would not be on his pink cloud for long, because barely five months later, fate struck again: a second collision. “Barely one kilometer from my first accident, but the consequences were greater, especially mentally. I lost my perspective on Tokyo 2020, reliving everything from 2013.” The arrival of his daughter Irène in the fall of 2019 gave Louis a boost. “She gave me the energy to persevere, despite my ongoing knee problems and Steven Johnsons Syndrome. In 2022, that was crowned as vice world champion in the road and time trial. I also ended my season as World Cup leader, luck was with me again.”
Again this year, Clincke pulled off the overall win in the World Cup. “With this I almost gathered enough points for a qualification for the Paralympics. I have to finish in the top three at the World Championships in Glashow this summer. With the Belgian team I will compete on the road in augustis, including time trial and competition on the track.” Despite the fraught program, Louis is clearly not lacking in team spirit.
Sponsorship also remains necessary to realize the athlete’s sporting ambitions. “From Sport Vlaanderen we receive financial support, but that is insufficient to cover the expenses of travel for competitions and materials.” Axians is therefore happy to give a push, “I dream aloud of a rainbow jersey and a paralympic title in Paris. It would be nice to be able to share this with everyone who supported me in my race and thus give a piece back.”
Axians is loudly supporting and already thanking Louis for his perseverance and positivism, a human story with an inspiring touch!
Join in the support and follow Louis 😊.
louisclincke.com
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