One of Jason Delesalle’s favourite early memories is of annual elementary school sports days, throwing bean bags, running races, and long jumping. It proved to be a taste of bigger things to come as for a decade Jason was throwing, running, and jumping in stadiums around the world as one of the best multi-event Paralympians on the planet.

Despite having impaired vision since birth, Jason was always active in sports growing up in Invermere and Tumbler Ridge. After discovering track and field in high school, Jason’s athleticism was spotted by revered coach Don Steen, who convinced Jason to move to Burnaby to train. Jason flourished under Steen’s coaching and soon was representing Canada internationally.

At the 1992 Paralympics in Barcelona, Jason won a silver medal in the javelin (B3 class). A three-time national champion in pentathlon, Jason won the world championship in the event at the 1994 IPC World Athletics Championships in Berlin.

His career highlight came at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta where Jason came from behind in the pentathlon’s final event, the 1500m, to win gold in the P12 class with a Paralympic record total of 3050 points. He also won a bronze medal in the discus (F12 class).

Two years later at the IPC World Athletics Championships in Madrid, Jason claimed silver in both the pentathlon and javelin. Battling nagging injuries, he represented Canada at his third Paralympics in 2000 in Sydney and third IPC World Athletics Championships in 2002 in Lille, France. In 2003, he won bronze in the discus at the IBSA World Championships in Quebec City.

Since retiring, Jason has coached young athletes at the Royal City Track & Field Club.

Written and researched by Jason Beck, Curator of the BC Sports Hall of Fame.

To read more on the career of Jason Delesalle, please see the May 2022 Curator’s Corner article here: https://bcsportshall.com/curator-corner/jason-delesalle-multi-events-master-2021-inductee-spotlight/