Aline dos Santos Rocha is a Brazilian

wheelchair racer Wheelchair racing is the racing of wheelchairs in track and road races. Wheelchair racing is open to athletes with any qualifying type of disability, amputees, spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy and partially sighted (when combined with another ...

and skier, who came third at the

2021 Berlin Marathon The 2021 Berlin Marathon was a marathon race held on 26 September 2021. It was the 47th edition of the annual Berlin Marathon. It was the first edition of the Berlin Marathon to take place after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019. The 202 ...

, and won multiple medals at the 2023 World Para Nordic Skiing Championships. She competed at the

2016 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

and the

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

and

2022 Winter Paralympics The 2022 Winter Paralympics (), commonly known as Beijing 2022 (), was an international winter multi-sport parasports event held in Beijing, China from 4 to 13 March 2022. This was the 13th Winter Paralympic Games, as administered by the Inte ...

Personal life

Rocha is from Paraná, Brazil. At the age of 15, Rocha was injured in a car accident, and became

paraplegic Paraplegia, or paraparesis, is an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. The word comes from Ionic Greek () "half-stricken". It is usually caused by spinal cord injury or a congenital condition that affects the neural ...

. She studied physical education at the University of Western Santa Catarina. Rocha is married to Fernando Orso, who is also her coach.

Wheelchair racing career

As of 2017, Rocha had won the

Saint Silvester Road Race The Saint Silvester Road Race ( pt, Corrida Internacional de São Silvestre) is a long-distance running event, the oldest and most prestigious street race in Brazil. Regarded as the main international event in Latin American athletics, the Brazi ...

on four occasions. In 2015, she won the 100 metres, 400 metres and 800 metres events at the (Regional Games of the State of São Paulo). Later in the year, she finished third at the Oita International Wheelchair Marathon in a Brazilian national record time of 01:49:37. She competed at the

, finishing ninth overall in the 1500 metres T54 competition and 10th in the marathon T54 event, after falling away from the main group after of the race. She went out in the heats of the 5000 metres T54 event. Rocha came 10th at the

2019 London Marathon The 2019 London Marathon was the 39th running of the annual marathon race in London, United Kingdom, which took place on 28 April. The elite men's race was won by Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, who took his fourth London Marathon victory in a time of ...

. Rocha came third at the

. Later in the year, she came fifth at the

2021 London Marathon The 2021 London Marathon was the 41st running of the annual London Marathon on 3 October 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the race was postponed from April until October to maximise the chances of a mass participation event. The elite even ...

. She suffered a flat tyre a few minutes prior to the race start.

Skiing career

In 2017, Rocha competed at the Cross-Country Ski World Cup in Ukraine. Rocha was selected for the

2018 Winter Paralympics ) , nations = 49 , athletes = 569 , events = 80 in 6 sports , opening = 9 March , closing = 18 March , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Eun-jung Seo Soon-seok , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic ...

Pyeongchang Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seou ...

, South Korea. She was the first Brazilian woman to compete at a

Winter Paralympic Games The Winter Paralympic Games is an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete in snow and ice sports. The event includes athletes with mobility impairments, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy. The ...

, and was the country's flagbearer at the Parade of Nations. At the Games, she finished 12th in the 5 km sitting event, 15th in the 12 km sitting event and 22nd in the qualification round of the 1.5 km sprint classical sitting event. She was also part of the Brazilian team that finished 13th and last in the 4 x 2.5 kilometre mixed relay; she competed in two legs of the event. Rocha finished third in the 5 km event at the 2021 Paralympic Ski World Cup event in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia. In October 2021, she competed at the Paralympic Rollerski Championship. In January 2022, Rocha came fourth in the 15 km sitting event at the

2021 World Para Snow Sports Championships The 2021 World Para Snow Sports Championships was an international disability sport competition held in Lillehammer, Norway from 8 to 23 January 2022. It was the inaugural edition of the World Para Snow Sports Championships with para-alpine skiin ...

. Rocha qualified for the

in Beijing, China. Rocha and Cristian Ribera were Brazil's flag bearers at the 2022 Winter Paralympics Parade of Nations. She came seventh in the 15 km sitting event, and 10th in the 7.5 km sitting event. She was fifth in her semi-final at the 1.5 km sprint sitting event, and did not qualify for the final. At the 2023 World Para Nordic Skiing Championships, Rocha won the sprint freestyle race, and finished third in both the 10km freestyle and 18 km classical events.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rocha, Aline Living people Paralympic athletes for Brazil Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Brazilian female wheelchair racers Sportspeople from Paraná (state) Paralympic wheelchair racers Athletes (track and field) at the 2023 Parapan American Games Brazilian female cross-country skiers Paralympic cross-country skiers for Brazil Cross-country skiers at the 2018 Winter Paralympics Cross-country skiers at the 2022 Winter Paralympics Year of birth missing (living people) Medalists at the 2023 Parapan American Games Medalists at the World Para Athletics Championships 21st-century Brazilian sportswomen