Jack Swift (born 8 August 1985) is an Australian athletics competitor and paratriathlete. He was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in athletics in the 400m and 4 × 100 m events.
Swift was born on 8 August 1985,[1] and is from the Melbourne[2] suburb of Ivanhoe[3] in Victoria.[4][5] He attended Marcellin College,[3] and played Australian rules football while at school.[3]
In 2006,[3] Swift lost the lower part of his right leg when he was twenty-one years old after an accident while at work,[2][3][6] "when a 14-tonne excavator fell and crushed his right leg".[3] Prior to his accident, he was a plumber's labourer.[3] He was a finalist for the 2011 Victorian Cleo Bachelor of the Year.[5] In February 2011, he was on the cover of Australian Men's Health.[2] He pursued a degree in exercise-science[2][3] from Deakin University.[3] As of 2012[update], he works as a personal trainer.[2]
Swift competes in the T44 athletics classification.[1] He became involved with athletics as a form of personal mental health improvement following his accident,[2][3] and had not competed in athletics prior to his accident.[3]
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In 2011, Swift was training as much as twenty-five hours a week.[3] In the 2011 Victorian Athletic League, he participated in the Athletes With a Disability 120m event, the only event open to athletes with disability during the season.[7] In 2011, he was an Australian national ambulant 100m and 200m finalist.[7] At the 2011 Australian Athletics Championships, he finished third in the 200m wheelchair race final.[5] He assisted in unveiling the 2012 Australian Paralympic athletics uniform.[8][9] He did this at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia Spring/Summer 2012/13 on day two at Sydney's Overseas Passenger Terminal on 1 May 2012.[9] He was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in athletics[1][2][4] in the 400m and 4 × 100 m events.[6] He did not medal at the 2012 Games.[citation needed]
In April 2013, Swift raced his first sprint distance triathlon.[10][11] Based on his performance in this race, he was selected in Australia's 2013 ITU Triathlon World Championships paratriathlon team.[12] Like several other selected Australian athletes, he did not race. Swift competed in the 2014 Australian and Oceania Paratriathlon Championships, placing 2nd in the TRI-5 (moderate leg impairment) classification.[13] He also placed second TRI-5 in the ITU World Paratriathlon event in Elwood.[14] At the 2014 ITU World Triathlon Series Final in Edmonton, Canada, he finished eleventh in the Men's PT4.[15] In January 2015, Swift won the Oceania Paratriathlon Championships PT4 event at Penrith, New South Wales.[16] At the 2015 World Triathlon Series Final in Chicago, Swift finished twelfth in the Men's PT4.[17]
Swift now aims to qualify for paratriathlon at the 2016 Summer Paralympics.[18]
