Rowing duo on course for Paralympic gold having overcome amputation and operations

Many people are convinced rowing is the ultimate team sport.

Everything — mind, body and boat — has to be working as one to achieve a victory.

The mixed double scull crew of Jed Altschwager, 36, and Nikki Ayers, 32, believe in this theory and in their ability which has already produced world-best times.

“He’s such an easygoing, laid-back Aussie dude, so we got along straight away,” Ayers said of their first meeting.

“We’ve had similar experiences.”

They are experiences that have tested their resilience and desire to become the best they can be.

“I was digging holes in the ground beforehand so to be doing what I’m doing now and toeing the line and the boat going fast, it’s pretty special,” Altschwager said as he contemplated his journey in rowing.

He was injured on a construction site in 2015.

“I was basically operating an excavator and had a little cave-in, rode it down, put my foot out and it got sort of crushed between the cab and the road,” Altschwager said.

In hospital, the vascular team looked at his left leg and spent three hours considering options before deciding on an amputation.

“I remember the head vascular surgeon going, you know, ‘This is your best opportunity to live a pretty able life and get on with it,'” Altschwager said.

“And that was pretty hard to hear those words.

“But it was done and dusted.

“From there we had it chopped off essentially — as crudely as that sounds.”

‘Can’t change leg, but can change mindset’

Altschwager was introduced to para-sports in 2017 — about the same time Ayers was sailing in the same direction.

A rugby union player, Ayers dislocated her knee and damaged nerves in her leg when she was tackled in a trial game in 2016.

She has undergone 16 surgeries on her right leg.

In 2017, Ayers met Altschwager at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, a time when she was still struggling to accept the reality of her leg.

“During this conversation there was a light bulb that went off,” Ayers explained.

She made it to the Tokyo Paralympics in the mixed coxed four while Altschwager missed selection, having taken silver at the 2018 World Championships in the men’s pair.

He was set to quit and perhaps turn his attention to coaching, only for the announcement there would be a PR3 mixed double scull event at the Paris Paralympic Games.

From pairing up to World Cup

The pair made a quick decision and decided to be a double.

“We’re aiming for that gold medal but it’s all about the journey and I’m happy with where I am because I wouldn’t want to be doing this journey with anybody else,” she said of her relationship with Altschwager.

The next big move was by Ayers, who completed her midwifery studies in Canberra last year and moved to Adelaide so she and Altschwager could train together — a supreme luxury, considering the funding available for para-athletes.

“We both knew what effect that was going to have on this boat,” Altschwager said.

“Being able to train the boat every day and have the environment here — it’s irreplaceable.”

Last month they went to Varese in Italy for a World Cup meet to test themselves and find out just what was possible.

The results were as stunning as the scenery.

In their heat, they set a world-best time before lowering that by more than five seconds in the final to claim the gold medal.

“We had confidence we could go there and be competitive,” Ayers said of the Italian job.

“It was really just showing the hard work and persistence we had been showing with training was paying off.

Ayers and Altschwager are realistic, and acknowledge their event is new to the rowing calendar and as such it is likely the world-best time will be lowered regularly.

“I know me and Nikki are hoping to be the guys who are toeing that line,” Altschwager said.

“That is the aim.”

Their next test will come at the World Championships in the Serbian capital Belgrade in September.

But there is no doubt about their major ambition.