Alana Forster

Before entering para-sport, Alana Forster worked as an emergency room doctor while racing in able-bodied competition.

In 2019, she finished in the top 10 of the Oceania Championships in both the road race and time trial. She then spent a stint in Europe competing in lower-level UCI races.

The next year, Forster was a triple national champion at Masters level, winning the road race, time trial and criterium.

In 2021, Forster performed strongly in the AusCycling National Road Series, gaining notoriety when she was awarded the most competitive rider on two stages of the Santos Festival of Cycling (the domestic equivalent of the Tour Down Under during its COVID-affected years).

However, in 2022 she was seriously injured in a car crash while driving to a bike race. She spent a week in intensive care and three months in a rehabilitation hospital with injuries to her pelvis, femur, ribs, and more.

After undergoing multiple surgeries, Forster was left with a weakened leg due to nerve damage. Her rehabilitation was strongly motivated by the goal of getting back on her bike.

In 2023, Forster returned to bicycle racing, this time as a C4 para-cyclist. One of her first events was the Road National Championships on her home roads in Ballarat, where she won the road race title ahead of Meg Lemon.

Later that year, Forster represented Australia for the first time at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow. In the track events, having been re-classified as a C5 para-cyclist, Forster won the scratch race with a thrilling late attack, earning herself the rainbow bands of world champion.

Forster also raced on the road at those World Championships, winning silver in the C5 individual time trial.

In 2024, returning to Ballarat, she won the C5 national championship in the road individual time trial.

She then rode for Australia for the second time at the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Rio de Janeiro.

Forster made her Paralympic debut at Paris 2024, where she won bronze in the C5 individual time trial, was fifth in the individual pursuit, and placed seventh in the C4−C5 road race.

She then competed at the 2024 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships in Zurich, winning bronze in the road race and placing fourth in the time trial.