Josh Landmann: The story so far...

In 2014 while on holiday with family in Spain, Josh Landmann’s life was changed forever.

Twenty years old and about to start university, Josh was enjoying the summer break when he tragically broke his neck after diving into a swimming pool, resulting in partial paralysis. Following surgery in Spain and spending over two weeks in hospital in Mallorca, he returned to the UK by air ambulance for further treatment. It was at that time Josh was informed by doctors there was a chance he may never walk again.

Speaking about the accident, Josh said:

At the time of my accident I didn't really know what had happened. I could obviously feel that I had lost all movement in my legs, and a lot of my feeling, but a spinal cord injury had never even occurred to me. I thought it was just nerve shock. In the following weeks I found out what I had done, but never really knew how serious it was - or how lucky I had been - until I got back to the UK.

Five years on

It has now been over 5 years since Josh suffered a spinal cord injury, and in that time - after working through an intensive recovery program of physiotherapy, strength and mobility training - Josh has regained some use of his legs. He uses crutches for walking and continues to use a wheelchair daily. Josh says that he has far more mobility than the doctors ever thought he would have, which is an amazing accomplishment, however he is now at the point where his mobility probably won't improve any further.

Sport was an integral part of Josh’s everyday life prior to the accident and so during his recovery, he was understandably extremely anxious about where his sporting career was headed and how he could continue to participate in competitive sports. Despite being paralyzed from the waist down, the former Lancashire hockey player and sports enthusiast was determined to not let his spinal cord injury get in his way of doing what he loved.

Josh remembers watching the Paralympics in 2012 and says that even then, prior to his injury, he found the wheelchair races far more interesting than Olympic running and was amazed at how people with disability adapt their body to compete. Understandably, Josh adds that he hadn’t really thought about how much playing sport could change someone with a disability’s life until he found myself in that position.

Determined

Having been a keen skier from an early age, a dream of Josh’s was to be able to get back on the slopes & ski again with his family and friends.

With stand-up skiing an impossibility, Josh discovered sit-skiing and in January 2016, less than two years after the accident, Josh traveled to Poland with Active Therapy for his first attempt at the sport. This was a life changing experience which motivated Josh to put all his efforts into training. He says:

Skiing was something I knew I needed to get back in my life after my accident. It just gives me so much independence and I forget that I have a disability when I'm skiing. The feeling is just inexplainable. I remember lying in my bed in the spinal unit just watching video after video of sit skiing, so the trip to Poland was planned way before I was even discharged from Hospital. I knew this was a sport I wanted to pursue to a more competitive level.

Back in the UK, Josh was training at indoor ski center the Chill Factory in Manchester when he was spotted by a Team GB coach and he attended his first International Paralympic Committee Alpine Skiing event in the Netherlands at the beginning of November 2016. From here, Josh was classified (LW12-1) and went on to compete, representing Team GB after just six months. Then in March 2017, with only 20 days of sit skiing under his belt, Josh competed in the British National Championships in Tignes, France, and won the Giant Slalom event.

Tough Mudder & Ellen DeGeneres

In May 2017 Josh, along with his father Neil, took on and completed the Tough Mudder Half event to raise money for BenTrend GetInvolved, a foundation that supports athletes with disabilities. A member of the Tough Mudder staffing team managed to catch the moment Josh tackled a section of course known as Everest (an almost vertical slope with which participants have only a rope to hoist themselves up) on film. In the video, Josh can be seen leaving his wheelchair and with the help of his father Neil, who supported him around the 5-mile course, he scales the face of Everest before he is pulled to the top of the obstacle by the outstretched hands of numerous strangers.

The video – which can be seen here - highlights Josh's own remarkable tenacity and determination, as well as the respect and compassion of those around him and so perhaps not surprisingly, the video went viral. It was even spotted by US chat show host, Ellen DeGeneres, who invited Josh and dad Neil to discuss the phenomenal video and his plans for his future sporting career on her show. You can watch the clip of Josh on the Ellen show here.

Tough Mudder was just a day out, with my father, to raise some money, which soon turned into a whole lot more! I didn't go there for any sympathy. It was an opportunity to spend some quality time with my father and have a laugh messing around in mud.

The video going viral was obviously a great confidence boost, as so many people took some positivity from it, I was able to share my story, and met some amazing people from it. The opportunity to talk on the biggest UK breakfast shows was a privilege, but to get a message through Facebook about the Ellen show was something I was originally very skeptical about.

I was in Colorado for ski training at the time, and I remember clearly the moment when it came through on my phone. After looking and reading the message several times, I just thought sack it I'm responding to this if it’s real or not! The next thing I know, I was on Skype calls with the head producer and then having my travel itinerary sent to me. It was surreal. After doing quite bit of TV in the UK, I’d always said if there was any talk show I could go on, it would be Ellen, and it’s so weird how it happened!

When at the show I was surrounded by A list celebrities including actors and singers, and it’s just amazing how they approached me and said they've already read about my story before coming on the show. This lad from Blackpool on the largest day time TV talk show in the world. It just doesn't happen!

Paralympic Games

But Josh hasn’t stopped there. He achieved a place on the British ParaTriathlon Talent Squad Programme last year following a trial through their talent programme and over the last 18 months he has competed in the international triathlon, with the hopes of securing selection for the Tokyo 2020 Summer and Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic games.

British Triathlon have been a huge support through my time within triathlon. We get supported at most races but still have to self-fund extra races we want to do. Paralympics & Tokyo is a goal of mine, it's a push as I'm very new to the sport and I'm giving it my all, but there’s still loads of extra racing I want to do.

I'd love to be able to compete in the marathon circuit in a year or so time in the elite race chair, and I'm working mainly towards the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Following that there is the 2024 Paris Paralympics, where I hope to go and compete for medals.

Josh is a fantastic reminder that anyone can achieve anything when they set their mind to it, and we wish him all the best with his future endeavors!!