ROME — Race car driver-turned-Paralympic champion Alex Zanardi has been seriously injured again.
Police told The Associated Press that Zanardi was transported by helicopter to a hospital in Siena following a road accident near the Tuscan town of Pienza during a national race Friday for Paralympic athletes on handbikes.
A Carabinieri police official in Montepulciano said the accident involved a “heavy vehicle,” and he believed Zanardi was still alive. The official did not give his name, as per local custom.
The 53-year-old Zanardi had both of his legs amputated following a horrific crash during a 2001 CART race in Germany. He was a two-time CART champion.
Zanardi won four gold medals in handbike at the 2012 and 2016 Paralympics.
The Italian Olympic and Paralympic Committees had no immediate comment.