The badass life of Zach Lavin
Almost dead – and now Paralympics winner?
03/12/2022, 8:02 p.m
Desperate, Zach Lavin wanders through the Rocky Mountains, narrowly escaping death. That’s six years ago. The Canadian survives, has a fateful encounter at a gym and is now in contention for Paralympic gold.
Zach Lavin was done with life. The Canadian wandered alone through the Rocky Mountains for two and a half days, the bitter cold caused his body temperature to drop rapidly – he was overcome by fear of survival. “There were definitely some thoughts about death,” he recalls. But thanks to a small miracle, Lavin has found his way back to life – and is now reaching for ice hockey gold with Canada at the Paralympics.
Because in his fateful experience six years ago, he climbed over a fence with the last of his strength before collapsing on a remote street. Paramedics found him there – unconscious and severely frostbitten. They took Lavin to a hospital. But while his hands quickly recovered, his badly injured feet remained in critical condition.
So Lavin decided to have both legs amputated below the knees. “I just wanted to get back to life,” Lavin says six years later. In the wilderness he was “pretty hopeless”. But then the Canadian thought of his “wonderful family and my siblings, and that stuck with me. I had to go on and see them again.”
“Just unbelievable”
Ice hockey gave Lavin new courage to face life. “I met an amputee in a gym and he showed me how to do it,” he said. “To be part of a community like I am now is just amazing.” Within three years, the 25-year-old fought his way into Canada’s para national team.
With the selection, Lavin advanced to the final of the Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing on Friday, the favored team clearly beat South Korea 11-0 in the semifinals. The first gold medal for the ice hockey motherland since Turin 2006 is within reach. But even if there should only be silver on Sunday: Lavin is already the big winner.