Paralympic athlete Johannes Bessell

Professional sport and work are often difficult to balance out.

But Johannes more or less turned his "hobby" into a profession. The para-athlete may not hunt for medals at work, but he does wear running shoes at work. This is because Johannes is a sales rep at Brooks and sells Brooks shoes to trading partners. "I love to be out and about a lot during the week. The icing on the cake for me as a runner is of course to be able to work in the running shoe industry and to exchange ideas with people who are enthusiastic about sports."

The sales representative, or as they say at Brooks: "Sales Rep", Johannes, was born in 1990 in Hanover. When he was born, the arm plexus (a network of nerves in the shoulder) was damaged. The arm and hand on the left side are not fully functional. Johannes’ parents introduced him to sports: From the gold swimming badge to the lifeguard badge, and then badminton.

In 2012, Johannes got into cycling and also Paralympic sport for the first time. He has been running at TSV-Bayer04 Leverkusen since 2017. And with great success: in 2018 he took 3rd place at the Para-EM in Berlin for the 1,500m and in 2019, 12th place at the Para World Championship in Dubai over the same distance in an impressive 4 hours and 11 minutes.

Johannes' best times

1. Half-marathon - 1:19:25
2. 5.000m - 16:20 min
3. 1.500m - 4:11 min at the World Championship in Dubai

Johannes' favorite shoe

Johannes prefers to slip into the Launch GTS when it is time for his endurance runs or tempo endurance runs. He really appreciates this dynamic, protected shoe, which is also particularly light. For speed work, Johannes reaches for the Hyperion Tempo, a light shoe that promotes acceleration. "The shoe also just looks incredibly good." In competitions, the para-athlete prefers to take advantage of the Hyperion Tempo or Hyperion Elite’s special propulsion.