 Hennessy at the 2024 Summer Paralympics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | September 23, 1984 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home town | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Ottawa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Ottawa River Canoe Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coached by | Joel Hazzan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Brianna Hennessy (born September 23, 1984) is a Canadian paracanoeist and wheelchair rugby player. She is a multi-medalist at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships and won silver in the women's VL2 at the 2024 Summer Paralympics.
Prior to her accident, Hennessy was a multi-sport athlete. She played AA hockey, national level ball hockey, competed in provincial and national level women’s rugby, was the Ontario Provincial boxing champion, and played eight years of competitive soccer. [1] She was a member of the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees women’s rugby team for the 2003-04 season. [2]
In 2016, Hennessy was introduced to wheelchair rugby through the Ottawa Hospital Rehabilitation Centre. She went on to qualify for the Ontario provincial team and to play for the American men's team, the Tampa Bay Generals. [3]
With the COVID-19 pandemic impacting practicing team sports, Hennessy took up para-canoe, training with Joel Hazzan at the Ottawa River Canoe Club, about sixth months before the qualification deadline for the upcoming Tokyo Paralympics. [4] [5] She qualified to represent Canada at the 2021 World Cup in Hungary in Women's KL1, and Women's VL2 [6] and won 4th-place in the women’s VL2 200m para-canoe sprint. [7] [8] [9] Less than two years after beginning para-canoe, Hennessy made her Paralympic debut in the sport. At the 2020 Summer Paralympics, she placed placed fifth in the VL2 and eighth in the KL1 para canoe events. [5]
At the 2022 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Hennessy won silver in the VL2 and bronze in the KL1 200-metre races. [1] [3] She won bronze in the women's KL1 and silver in the VL2 at the 2023 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships. [10]
In 2023, Hennessy was one of ten players selected to compete on Canada’s first ever women’s wheelchair rugby team for the 2033 Women's Rugby World Cup. [11]
At the 2024 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, Hennessy won a silver medal in the women's VL2. [12] She competed in her second Paralympic Games in 2024 in KL1 and VL2. [13] She won silver in the women's 200-metre sprint VL2 [14] and placed fourth in KL1 kayak women’s 200-metres. [15] Hennessy was chosen to be one of Canada's closing ceremony flag bearers for the Games. [16]
Hennessy graduated from the University of Ottawa in 2008 with a degree in Health Sciences. [2] She was hit by a cab in Toronto in 2014. She was diagnosed tetraplegic but has since regained some mobility in her upper body. [3] Her mother, Norma, passed away in 2023. [5]
Edina Müller is a German 2.5 point wheelchair basketball player and KL1 canoeist. She played for ASV Bonn in the German wheelchair basketball league, and for the national team. As part of the German women's national wheelchair basketball team, she won bronze at the 2006 World Cup in Amsterdam, won three time European champions, a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, and a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. The team was voted 2008 Team of the Year in disabled sports, and Horst Köhler presented it with Germany's highest sports award, the Silbernes Lorbeerblatt. President Joachim Gauck awarded the team a second Silver Leaf after it won the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics. Müller was also a two-time U.S. champion (2006-2008) with her college team Illinois Fighting Illini at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and helped ASV Bonn win the European Cup in Valladolid, Spain in 2009. From 2011 to 2014 she played for Hamburger SV.
Paracanoe debuted at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. A meeting of the International Paralympic Committee in Guangzhou, China in 2010 decided to add paracanoe to the roster of the Summer Paralympic Games.
Curtis Wain McGrath, is an Australian paracanoeist and former soldier. He took up canoeing competitively after both of his legs were amputated as a result of a mine blast while serving with the Australian Army in Afghanistan. McGrath won consecutive gold medals in the Men's KL2 at the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, and has won ten gold medals and a silver at ICF Paracanoe World Championships between 2014 and 2019.
Amanda Jane "AJ" Jennings is an Australian paracanoeist and para archer. She won two gold medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships and a silver medal in the Women's 200m KL3 at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Paracanoe is canoeing for athletes with a range of physical disabilities. The Paralympic version of the sport is governed by the International Canoe Federation (ICF), and a va'a-specific variant is governed by the International Va'a Federation (IVF).
France competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016. The first places the team qualified were for four athletes in sailing events.
Susan Seipel is an Australian Para-canoeist, a gold and bronze medallist in kayak and outrigger canoe at the 2015 and 2016 World Championships. She won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and a silver medal at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. another bronze medal at 2024 Summer Paralympics
Poland competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016.
Hungary competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016.
Jocelyn Neumueller is a paracanoeist. She competed for Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
The 2017 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, the 43rd edition of the World Championships, were held in Račice, Czech Republic, from 23 to 27 August 2017.
The 2016 ICF Paracanoe World Championships was held in Duisburg, Germany, from 17 to 19 May 2016. This event, which is usually part of the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, was held separately as the latter is not held in Olympic years. It shared the venue with, and was held concurrently with the 2016 European Canoe Sprint Olympic Qualifier tournament.
The 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, the 45th edition of the World Championships, were held in Szeged, Hungary from 21 to 25 August 2019.
Erica Scarff is a Canadian paracanoeist who competes in international level events.
Prachi Yadav is an Indian Paracanoe Athlete who participated in 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. Yadav won the bronze medal in the 2022 Paralympic World Cup.
Maryna Mazhula is a Ukrainian paracanoeist. She is a five-time world champion in the women's KL1 event.
Anas Al Khalifa is a paracanoeist, who competed for the Refugee Paralympic Team at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. Born in Syria, he now lives in Germany.
Bianca Borgella is a Canadian para-athlete competing in the 100 metres and 200 metres in the T13 classification.
Keegan Gaunt is a Canadian visually-impaired middle-distance runner.
Pooja Ojha is an Indian para athlete from Madhya Pradesh who competes in canoeing. She qualified for the 2024 Summer Paralympics in the canoeing women's KL1 event. India earned quota places for the following events through the 2023 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Duisburg, Germany; and 2024 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Szeged, Hungary. Earlier, she represented India at the 2022 Asian Para Games at Hangzhou, China.
