Yannick Bourseaux is a French Paralympic triathlete, cross-country skier, and biathlete who lives in Aubière, France. A lifelong sports lover, he took up swimming and running as a child, which led him into triathlon at 14. Selected for the French national team at 17, he held that spot for ten consecutive years, even while attending university and working full-time. He competed as an elite triathlete until 2004, when a serious bicycle accident during a training session changed his life forever. Resuscitation, neurosurgery, and extensive rehabilitation followed — and through it all, his perseverance and refusal to give up kept him going.
The accident left Yannick with a partially paralyzed right arm, but it never stopped him from competing. Fourteen months later, he set his sights on the Paratriathlon World Championship, promising himself he'd begin training the moment his rehabilitation was complete. Five months after that, he represented France at the Paralympics in Turin, competing in both cross-country skiing and biathlon — the two sports he now pursues full-time, with hopes of one day winning a Paralympic medal.
His commitment to paratriathlon wasn't a sudden decision. Yannick had competed in paratriathlons sporadically since 2006, but grew more serious after the 2011 ITU Paratriathlon World Championship in Beijing, where he saw just how much the sport's competitiveness had grown since he'd first tried it. When the Paralympics added paratriathlon to its program ahead of the 2016 Games, Yannick committed to the sport full-time.
"He also likes skiing, and we use it sometimes for fitness, but it's not a real passion for him. A medal at Sochi could have been possible with a huge commitment to training on the mountain, but Yannick recognized he wasn't able to do that at this time," says Nicolas Becker, his teammate since 1997 and his coach since 2012.
Among his biggest challenges has been learning to swim with one arm, Yannick says. Committing full-time to paratriathlon gives him the time he needs to qualify for the 2016 Rio Paralympics. "Since September, I've put thirty-seven seconds onto my 400-meter personal best," he says. Training specifically for a one-armed swim stroke is hard to find, so Yannick has had to adapt techniques from different sources to refine his own.
Yannick trains roughly 15 to 20 hours a week. "If I train more, my body doesn't recover enough. I get tired, and ultimately, I can't put together good sessions," he says. He typically trains twice a day — swimming three or four times a week in the pool plus one open-water session, riding 300 to 350 kilometers a week with one session on an indoor trainer, and running about 50 kilometers with one track session — taking only one day off. That's his typical summer training week; from September on, his focus shifts toward winter, preparing for biathlon and cross-country skiing at international Paralympic competitions.
Since this story was first told: Yannick Bourseaux competed at a second Paralympic Games, finishing 10th in the men's PTS5 paratriathlon at the Tokyo 2020 Games, after his 5th-place finish in Rio in 2016.