Josh Cassidy

{{short description|Canadian wheelchair racer}}

{{Infobox sportsperson

| name = Josh Cassidy

| image = 2017 London Marathon - Josh Cassidy (2).jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = Cassidy at the 2017 London Marathon

| fullname =

| nicknames =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1984|11|15}}

| birth_place = Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

| death_date =

| death_place =

| height = 170cm

| disability = Legs are partially paralyzed as a result of spinal cord damage from neuroblastoma cancer at birth.

| medaltemplates = {{MedalSport|Athletics}}

{{MedalCompetition|Parapan American Games}}

{{MedalSilver|2015 Toronto|800 m T54}}

{{MedalSilver|2015 Toronto|1500 m T54}}

{{MedalSilver|2015 Toronto|5000 m T54}}

{{MedalCompetition|Commonwealth Games}}

{{MedalBronze|2010 Delhi|1500m T54}}

}}

Josh Cassidy (born November 15, 1984, in Ottawa, Ontario) is a Canadian Paralympic wheelchair racer,{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=23 January 2021|title=Josh Cassidy - IPC Athlete Bio|url=http://ipc.infostradasports.com/asp/lib/TheASP.asp?pageid=8937&sportid=513&personid=877951&WinterGames=-1|archive-date=31 January 2021|access-date=|website=ipc.infostradasports.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210131065945/http://ipc.infostradasports.com/asp/lib/TheASP.asp?pageid=8937&sportid=513&personid=877951&WinterGames=-1|url-status=dead}}motivational speaker, artist, and actor. {{Cite web |title=Bio |url=https://joshcassidy.com/full-bio |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=Joshua Cassidy |language=en-US}}

He is a 31 time Canadian Champion competing in the middle to long distance events. He has been National Champion and held National records at times throughout his career in the 800m, 1500m, 5000m, 10,000m and Marathon. {{Cite web |title=Joshua Cassidy |url=https://athletics.ca/athlete/joshua-cassidy/ |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=Athletics Canada |language=en-US}}

In 2005, he was carded as a Canadian National Team athlete, and competed in his first world championships in 2006 in Assen, Netherlands.

Cassidy represented Canada at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, finishing 10th in the 5000m, 12th in the 1500m, and 17th in the 800m.

In 2010, Cassidy won the 2010 London Marathon with a time of 1:35:21 seconds.{{cite news |url=http://www.cbc.ca/sports/canada-s-cassidy-wins-wheelchair-race-in-london-1.912823 |title=Canada's Cassidy wins wheelchair race in London |date=April 25, 2010 |work=CBC News |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |accessdate=April 25, 2016}} In 2012, he won the 2012 Boston Marathon wheelchair race with a time of 1:18:25, which at the time became the fastest wheelchair marathon time ever recorded, though didn't count as a world record due to the Boston Marathon course being ineligible for world records. His record stood for five years until broken by Marcel Hug of Switzerland in 2017.

At the 2012 Summer Paralympics, Cassidy competed whilst fighting a bacteria infection. He placed 12th in the marathon, 20th in the 5000m, 10th in the 1500m. He overcame a crash in the 800m, and still placed 5th.{{cite web|url=http://www.paralympic.ca/athletes/38315|title=Josh Cassidy|publisher=Canadian Paralympic Committee|accessdate=June 21, 2014}}

He won the Chicago Marathon in 2012.

In 2013 Cassidy won Bronze in the 10,000m at the World Championships in Lyon, France.

He has won the Los Angeles Marathon twice.{{cite news |title= Kenya's Elisha Barno and Kenya's Brigid Kosgei win 2019 Los Angeles Marathon |url= http://results2.xacte.com/#/e/2232/leaderboard |work= Los Angeles Marathon |access-date= 2022-07-21 |date= 2019-03-24}} In 2019 he overcame the odds when his racing chair had snapped in half the day before, but he managed to get a friend to fly a spare racer to him that night, hours before the race. {{Cite news |last=Reid |first=Scott |date=March 24, 2019 |title=Josh Cassidy Overcomes Latest Challenge to win LA Marathon |url=https://www.ocregister.com/2019/03/24/josh-cassidy-overcomes-latest-challenge-to-win-los-angeles-marathon/}} He won LA Marathon again in 2023.

Cassidy won the Sydney Marathon in 2023 and 2024.

Cassidy joined the Canadian team for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, and was named as co-flagbearer for the opening ceremony alongside weightlifter Maude Charron.{{cite news |title=Maude Charron, Josh Cassidy named Canada's flag-bearers for Commonwealth Games |url=https://www.cbc.ca/sports/commonwealthgames/commonwealth-games-flag-bearer-charron-cassidy-1.6527513 |website=CBC Sports |date=July 21, 2022}} He came in 4th in the men's T54 marathon.{{cite news |title=Marathon - Para Men's T53/T54 Results |work=BBC Sport |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/commonwealth-games/62360810 |access-date=30 July 2022}}