By Darcy Milfull
With just 18 months of training under his belt, track cyclist Korey Boddington returned from the 2024 Paris Paralympics as the world champion.
He has clinched a gold medal in the C4 1000m time trial and a bronze in the mixed team sprint — all while balancing full time work at Rise Accountants in Bowen Hills.
His success is all the more extraordinary considering he had overcome two life-threatening accidents before the age of 15.
“I had a motocross crash when I was 15, got choppered off the track and ended up in a coma for around 3 weeks,” Boddington said.
“I had to learn to be a human again – how to walk, talk, go to the toilet.”
Only four years prior, the then 11-year-old had had been hit by a car; an accident which he has dubbed “the warmup to the big one”.
“The car accident did a lot of nerve damage down my right side,” he said.
“Then, when I had my motocross accident, I had a brain injury that was kind of like a stroke… I pinched the nerve in my shoulder, lost all the muscle and the use of my right shoulder.
“They’re the cards I was dealt, and there’s no point dwelling on it, you just need to keep moving forward. That’s what I try to do.”
And that’s exactly what he did.
What began with simply enjoying his cycling commute to university led to the realisation that he had a raw talent for sprint cycling – one that would take him all the way to the Paralympics.
Having only ever competed in four races before heading to Paris, Boddington said he knew his preparation had to be “perfect up to the day” to finish on the podium.
“To get there in 18 months, in my mind I had to do absolutely everything – I couldn’t miss a day of training, I couldn’t afford to eat the wrong thing,” he said.
“I kind of knew on the day whatever happened would make sense. If I am the fastest it’s because I had done everything… if I wasn’t, it’s just because of a lack of time.
“I was okay with whatever happens… but I hate losing!” he laughed.
The debutant Paralympian finished as the fastest qualifier and broke the world record in the heats, buying him a spot as the last racer in the final time trial.
“In the final before me, old mate went out and broke the record, and then the next broke that record,” he said.
“When I was up, I had no idea what anyone before me had done.
“I went out and broke the last record.”
Boddington says he’s still “on a high” since returning from Paris and is already itching to get back onto the track.
“There’s just still so much I want to do” he said.
“This is only the beginning.”
