Nik
Goncin

Nik Goncin scored 11 points in the deciding match as Canada defeated Italy 72-60 to earn a berth at the 2024 Paralympic Games at a qualifying tournament. That same year, he won gold with the Calgary Rollers at the CWBL National Championship.

In 2023, highlights were a bronze medal at 2023 Parapan American Games and sixth place  at the IWBF World Championships in Dubai

Goncin helped Canada qualify for the Tokyo Paralympic Games in men’s wheelchair basketball.

Canada punched its ticket to Tokyo by defeating Colombia 62-42 in the semifinals at the 2019 Parapan American Games in Lima, Peru before going on to win the silver medal. Goncin had 14 points for Canada in the semifinals. He added 12 points in the gold-medal game, won by the United States.

He competed at his second Paralympics in Tokyo where Canada placed eighth.

He was born in Sarajevo. His family left the war-ravaged country formerly known as Yugoslavia (now Bosnia and Herzegovina) in 1994 before Goncin’s third birthday.

His wheelchair basketball journey began in 2008, when he discovered the sport through a clinic at his high school.

He made his debut with Team Canada at the 2009 world junior championships. In 2013, Goncin cracked both the senior and junior national team rosters. He competed at both the Toronto 2015 Parapan Am Games and made his Paralympic debut at Rio 2016.

The Regina native was on an athletic scholarship at the University of Illinois, where he competed for the men’s collegiate wheelchair basketball team.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

2016 and 2020 Paralympic Games… 2015, 2019, 2023 Parapan American Games

PERSONAL

He lost his left leg to cancer at the age of 15 … In 2019, he was honorary president of Hoopfest, Wheelchair Basketball Canada’s flagship fundraiser… He completed his MSc in Exercise Physiology at Ontario Tech University and prosthetics and orthotics Technical Fabrication at George Brown College…Is fluent in Serbo-Croatian…

NOTABLE INTERNATIONAL RESULTS

• 2023 Parapan American Games 3rd
• 2023 World Championships 6th
• 2021 Paralympic Games 8th
• 2019 Parapan American Games 2nd
• 2018 World Championships 12th
• 2016 Paralympic Games 11th
• 2015 Toronto Parapan American Games 2nd
• 2013 Men’s U23 World Championship 6th
• 2009 Men’s U23 World Championship 8th