LAHNA Mohamed

Classification
C2 (UCI, 21 Aug 2021)

Type of Impairment
Limb deficiency (moroccoworldnews.com, 14 Aug 2015)

Origin of Impairment
Congenital (moroccoworldnews.com, 14 Aug 2015)

Impairment Details
He was born with proximal femoral focal deficiency [PFFD], affecting his right leg. (moroccoworldnews.com, 14 Aug 2015)

General
SWITCHES OF COUNTRY AND SPORT
After representing Morocco in Para triathlon at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, he competed under the International Triathlon Union flag until 2018 and began representing the United States of America from September 2019. Once he knew his Para triathlon class would not be part of the programme of the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo he switched to Para cycling and opted to represent Morocco. (triathlon.org, 01 Oct 2019; folks.pillpack.com, 01 Mar 2021)

ADVENTURE CHALLENGES
He has taken part in several endurance and sporting challenges. He rode the Atlas Mountains in northwestern Africa on a bike, ran the Marathon des Sables run across the Sahara Desert, competed in the Norseman extreme triathlon, swam the Strait of Gibraltar and has competed in the Ironman triathlon in Kona, HI, United States of America. In 2020 he launched a new adventure project which consists of cycling from the lowest to the highest point in each continent alongside some friends. "It's never been done before, by someone able-bodied or by anybody else. We want to be the first. We want to inspire people with disabilities to aim higher." The group completed the first stage of their project in South America in 2020. They expect the quest will last 10 years to accomplish throughout seven continents. (teamusa.org, 2018; outdoors.ma, 2019; challengedathletes.org, 2019; folks.pillpack.com, 01 Mar 2021)

PATHWAY TO PROSTHESIS
At a young age he used to play football on the streets of Casablanca, Morocco. Not being able to get access to a proper prosthesis, he used to use foam pads glued to his shoe in order to stabilise his right leg. His outlook changed when his father, a taxi driver, met Moroccan Para swimmer and Paralympic medallist Abdeljalal Biare, asked him to meet Lahna. "He took me to the pool while he was doing his workout. I was so amazed. I still remember the smell of the chlorine." Some years later his father drove a French prosthetics designer who agreed to help create one to accommodate Lahna's foot. "When you have a birth defect like mine in the United States or Europe, most parents amputate the foot because it's easier to fit a prosthesis. But for me, at the time, there wasn't a lot of that information." Eventually a solution was found and he could get his new prosthesis. "For the first time, I had a proper leg with a proper knee. I was able to sit on a chair and walk. It changed my life." (folks.pillpack.com, 01 Mar 2021)