Champion Paralympic sprinter Evan O'Hanlon, who also represented Australia at bobsleigh, has announced his retirement after 18 years on the world stage.
Five-time Paralympic gold medallist Evan O'Hanlon has announced his immediate retirement after 18 years sprinting for Australia.
O'Hanlon won medals at the four most-recent Paralympic Games over 100m and 200m.
The 35-year-old said his results at this year's World Para Athletics Championships in Paris, where he finished eighth in the T38 100m final, influenced his decision to hang up his spikes.
Evan O'Hanlon set the T38 200m world record on his way to Paralympic gold at the London 2012 Games.
"When I didn't run too well in the heats, I knew that it was the end of the road," O'Hanlon said.
"I thought I could pull something out in the final but I crossed the line in last place, which was really disappointing.
"The emotion is still there, I wanted to win every time I stood on the track. I can just see a little bit wider outside of athletics now because I have a family and two businesses."
O'Hanlon dominated the short-distance T38 events at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, winning gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay.
At those Games, he became the first athlete with cerebral palsy to break the 11-second barrier in the 100m.
He retires still holding the T38 world record for the 200m with the 21.82 seconds he posted in the final at the Paralympics in 2012 - one of two gold medals he earned at the London Games.
He also collected silver in the 100m at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and bronze in the same event at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
Eight of O'Hanlon's 12 world championships medals were gold, and he also took top spot on the podium for the T38 100m at the Commonwealth Games in 2018 and 2022.
Alongside his sprinting medal haul, O'Hanlon also had a passion for bobsleigh and represented Australia at the able-bodied world championships in 2021.
"Evan retires as one of our most successful Paralympians ever, forging an amazing career since he first stepped onto a championship track in 2005," Athletics Australia high performance manager Andrew Faichney said.
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