Allison Jones, the United States’ flag bearer at the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, said she was competing in memory of her late father, who died in a plane crash in July. The two-time gold medalist also honored her father’s legacy by designing new cycling equipment for physically disabled athletes.
As a top Paralympic cyclist and skier — and also a mechanical engineer — Jones was always looking to improve her gear. Anytime she needed help with a design, she would ask her father for advice.
“I remember I was fresh off the Athens Olympics, I was at my dad’s place and trying to explain what I wanted to build,” Jones told the Colorado Springs Independent. “We were at the table, so I used a ketchup bottle, a pepper shaker, a spoon and napkin. I can’t draw, so I was trying to explain it all in three dimensions.”
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Her father, Jay, took the kernel of that idea and helped her design a number of different bike parts, including a specialized “strut” for her leg. Jones, who was born without a femur in her right leg, underwent surgery as a baby to have the leg amputated above the knee. The surgery allowed her to more easily wear a prosthetic leg or, in this case, a lightweight carbon fiber brace that can clip onto her bike.
(Photo by Phil Ellsworth / ESPN).
The idea for the strut eventually became a reality through Titan Robotics, a 3D printing lab and manufacturer in Colorado Springs where Jones herself works. Now she can generate more power and speed than ever while riding, and she can also stand on her bike pedals when necessary. But Jones wasn’t satisfied with only improving her own equipment. She wanted to help her teammate, Billy Lister, make it to the Paralympics, too.
When Lister was 17, he experienced a stroke that left him partially paralyzed, gradually taking away most of the function in his left arm. “Whereas most strokes are sudden bursts of light that change your world in an instant, mine was a slow and regressive process,” Lister wrote in a post for the Challenged Athletes Foundation. “Each day I wasn’t able to do something I could the day before; type on a keyboard, button my shirt, open a door; and then ultimately the ability to run.”
After a period of dejection, Lister began competing in disabled sports in 2009, which reignited his competitive spirit. Still, his paralyzed arm was unpredictable, and it would tighten up too much when he rode his bike. This tightening would cause his arm to move involuntarily, which produced resistance and hindered his concentration. That’s when Jones came in, offering Lister the services of Titan Robotics.
Using the 3D printers, Jones helped design and print an aerodynamic tray that could hold Lister’s arm in place while he rode. On top of that, the tray has extra padding on the end to hit a pressure point that relaxes his left hand and arm.
“It’s a game-changer,” Lister told Colorado Springs station KRDO. “With this arm perch, it puts my arm in a secure position and doesn’t allow it to move around. It takes the uncontrollable nature of my arm out of the equation and allows me to ride more comfortably and a lot faster.”
Lister credited the 3D printed technology for helping him make the U.S. team, and Jones hoped her work at Titan Robotics could help other athletes in the future. Jones’ father was always one of the creative minds behind the equipment she designed for herself. Now she just wants to use her father’s inspiration to pay it forward.
Click here to see all of Jones’ results in Rio — her best finish was fourth in the women’s road race C1-2-3 — and here to see Lister’s.