Scott Reardon is an Australian Paralympic T42 sprinter and World Title Water Skiier.

Raised in the country NSW town of Temora, sports-mad Scott Reardon was rising through the ranks of able-bodied water skiing when in 2002 at age 12 he caught his shoelace in the power take-off shaft of a tractor, severing his right leg through the knee.

Eager to return to the water, Scott relearned how to walk in just one week.

“When I lost the lower half of my leg in an accident, my visions of representing Australia seemed to be destroyed in the blink of an eye. When faced with this situation I had to make a choice, hide from the world or take it as a challenge and attack it head on.”

Scott persevered and went on to represent Australia three times at the Water Skiing World Championships, where he won the world title in both 2007 and 2009.

While still pursing water skiing, Scott attended a Paralympic Talent Search day and was immediately identified as having the potential to run on the track at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.  After juggling water skiing and athletics for a while, he relocated to Canberra in 2009, where he trained under world-renowned coach Iryna Dvoskina.

Less than a year after joining the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) program, Scott achieved a podium finish at the National Athletics Championships in Perth, and at the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand, he placed fourth and fifth in the 100m and 200m, respectively.

Making his Paralympic debut the following year in London, Scott raced strongly in both his events, winning silver behind German competitor Heinrich Popow in the 100m and placing fourth in the 200m.

A sign of things to come, Scott achieved his first international gold medal at the 2015 IPC World Championships in Doha, Qatar, matching this result the following year at the Paralympic Games in Rio where he won Gold in the 100 metre sprint title in a stunning performance, setting a record time of 12.26.

He followed this up at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London by winning his third consecutive 100m T42 title with a time of 12.21.

Scott is currently studying a Bachelor of Education majoring in Design Technology at the University of Canberra, and is employed as a tour guide at the AIS.