Daniel Wagner Jørgensen (born 3 June 1993), who also competes as Daniel Wagner, is a leg

amputee Amputation is the removal of a limb or other body part by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is ...

Danish

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

sportsman who has competed in both

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athletics and

snowboarding Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralym ...

. As an athlete he specialises in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

, but also competes in sprint events.

Personal career

Jørgensen was born in

Vejle Vejle () is a city in Denmark, in the southeast of the Jutland Peninsula at the head of Vejle Fjord, where the Vejle River and Grejs River and their valleys converge. It is the site of the councils of Vejle Municipality (''Municipalities of De ...

, Denmark in 1993. As a youth he was a keen sportsman and took up both snowboarding and

gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

. In 2008, whilst attempting a double front flip on a trampoline at a gymnastic show he landed badly and dislocated his knee. In the resulting surgery, doctors were sadly forced to amputate his leg.

Athletics career

As sprinting was part of his old gymnastics training, Jørgensen found he had a talent for running as a disability athlete, taking up disability athletics in 2010. Classified as a T42 athlete, Jørgensen first represented Denmark at an international level when he was chosen for the national team at the

2011 IPC Athletics World Championships The 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships was held in Christchurch, New Zealand from January 21 to 30, 2011. Athletes with disabilities competed, and the Championships were a qualifying event for the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Over 1,000 ath ...

in Christchurch, New Zealand. In Christchurch he took part in the 100m and 200m sprints but failed to make a podium finish in either events. The following year he was part of the Denmark team that travelled to London to take part in the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Sum ...

. There he entered three events, the 100m and 200m sprint, and the long jump, in which he finished third, to claim his first international medal. In 2013 Jørgensen attended his second World Championship, held in Lyon, where as well as the sprints, he entered the long jump, finishing just outside the medals in fourth place. The following year he attended the

2014 IPC Athletics European Championships The 2014 IPC Athletics European Championships was a track and field competition for athletes with a disability open to International Paralympic Committee (IPC) affiliated countries within Europe, plus Azerbaijan and Israel. It was held in Swans ...

in Swansea where he took three medals, a bronze in the 200m and two silvers in the 100m and long jump. Jørgensen showed continual improvement in the buildup to the Rio Paralympics, by winning medals in all three of his events at the 2015 World Championships in Doha. The following year, Jørgensen took gold in the long jump at the 2016 European Championships with a distance of 6.70 metres. This led to a season of tournaments which saw Jørgensen and German rival

Heinrich Popow Heinrich Popow (born 14 July 1983) is a German sprinter. At the Paralympics 2012 in London he won Gold in 100 metres sprint. During his career he has been the World and European Champion in 100 metres sprint and World Champion in the long jum ...

exchange the World record distance on several occasions.

Snowboarding career

Jørgensen began snowboarding while a child and continued to enjoy the sport after his accident. Classified as an SB-LL boarder, he represented Denmark at the 2015 Snowboarding World Championships in La Molina. He entered two events, the snowboard cross and the banked slalom, winning a bronze medal in the latter. Wagner participates as the only Dane at the snowboarding events at the 2018 Winter Paralympics in

Pyeongchang Pyeongchang ( , ; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seo ...

, South Korea. He was also the

flagbearer A standard-bearer, also known as a colour-bearer or flag-bearer, is a person who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a ...

for Denmark at the 2018 Winter Paralympics in the opening ceremony.

References

External links

Daniel Wagner
at

World Para Snowboard The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; ) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and functions as the international federation for nin ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jorgensen, Daniel 1993 births Living people Danish male sprinters Danish male long jumpers Danish male snowboarders Paralympic athletes for Denmark Paralympic snowboarders for Denmark Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Paralympic silver medalists for Denmark Paralympic bronze medalists for Denmark Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Snowboarders at the 2018 Winter Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Sportspeople from Vejle Municipality Medalists at the World Para Athletics Championships Medalists at the World Para Athletics European Championships Sprinters with limb difference Long jumpers with limb difference Paralympic sprinters Paralympic long jumpers 21st-century Danish sportsmen