How Kane Perris returned from an injury that had him questioning if he’d ever ride again

Para-cyclist Kane Perris thought his career was over after he suffered an injury in his backyard three years ago, but harsh words and 10 months of ‘small wins’ turned it all around.

As Kane Perris lay on his physiotherapist’s treatment table in 2021, he thought his para-cycling career could be over.

Battling a serious back injury suffered in the backyard while training at his Perth home during a Covid lockdown, he was ready to give the sport away.

But the words of physio Leon Vogels have stayed with Perris as he prepares to make his Paralympic Games debut in Paris three years later.

“He said ‘If you pull the pin now, what’s the alternative, what are you going to do?’” Perris said.

“Nobody had been that blunt and hard with me. I didn’t have an answer for him and that’s when I made up my mind this is what I wanted to do.”

Kane Perris (R) thought his para-cycling career was over three years ago. Picture: Auscycling

The 10-month rehab journey to get back on the bike was all about the “small wins” for the West Australian.

Being able to touch his toes again from a standing position was something for which Perris “got the pompoms and celebrated in a big way”.

“I got stronger and stronger, back on the bike and it made me truly appreciate the sport itself being out of action for so long,” he said.

“I find the perspective I have now when I’m deep in the hurt locker in a training session is ‘remember how much you wanted this when you couldn’t have it’.”

While the 2021 injury has helped to shape the athlete Perris is today, a crash on his World Championships debut in Rio de Janeiro this year threatened to again derail the 27-year-old’s Paralympic dream.

The incident left him with three broken ribs, a punctured lung and shoulder injury.

Looking back on what had occurred three years ago, Perris was confident he was always going to be able to push through another setback.

A conversation with his brother Chad, who will compete at his third Paralympics in athletics, helped him realise what lay ahead.

“Being able to have Chad a phone call away is a blessing because he is objective,” he said.

“To have someone who could share the perspective about the challenges of being an athlete is something you can’t take for granted.

“I think having that perspective was important because in the hospital in Rio there were a lot of things that were up in the air.

“It was nothing compared to what I had been through.”

Our athletes have arrived at the Paralympic Village and are ready to settle in before the games begin!@paralympics | @paris2024 | #paralympics | #paris2024pic.twitter.com/CbJc5i5Haz

— AUS Paralympic Team (@AUSParalympics) August 27, 2024

Perris will now have the opportunity to make his Paralympic debut alongside his tandem pilot Luke Zaccaria.

“To me it was an overwhelmingly wave of emotion when I got the call saying we were on the team,” Perris said.

“I found I was thinking back to those times when I had the most challenges in the sport.

“We’ve had some real high moments and some real low moments.

“We’ve pushed through a lot together and I think the crash in Rio brought us closer together because we knew once I got fit we had this new-found energy.”

Perris will be the first Aussie to hit the velodrome on day one when he participates in the 4000m tandem pursuit.

His target event will come on Sunday in the 1000m tandem.

Several of the Perris brothers’ family will watch Kane in action at the velodrome before making the dash to watch Chad in the 100m later in the day.

Originally published as How Kane Perris returned from an injury that had him questioning if he’d ever ride again