Colorado Athletes on Maui: André Szucs

Andre was born missing his leg below-the-knee and has dedicated much of his personal and professional time to improving the quality of life for amputees. He is no amateur to extreme sports after completing the IRONMAN World Championships in Kona and the Xterra World Championships. Andre’s “surfer” mentality and demeanor keeps him level headed throughout the grueling ups and downs of this mountain biking journey.’
 
Excerpt below from xterraplanet.com
Andre Szucs, a below-the-knee amputee, has been overcoming adversity his entire life. So much so, he says “basically, I came to the conclusion that I am no different than anyone else out there, like everybody I am just exploring my physical limits…not to be confused with physical limitations because of an amputation, that’s not how I handle my life.”

“I thought I knew myself enough to consider that I was “fully capable” but I always had that unfortunate feeling that I could not run off-road.  This fear was always surrounding me that I could hurt myself and it could be bad for my knee and nothing could change that.”

2017 Leadville Trail 100MTB

 
“It was a benchmark in my life and a whole new perspective on how far I could go. I am so excited to start this journey and I know there is so much room for improvement, especially on my prosthesis for running.”
Szucs second XTERRA was at the USA Champs, where he finished 3rd in the PC division and earned a qualifying spot into the XTERRA World Championship.
“Lesson learned,” said Szucs.  “Don’t be afraid to be happy. When asking ourselves if we can do something…before answering, go and TRY FIRST!”