BMX star Sam Willoughby progresses to a crawl

Australian Olympian Sam Willoughby says his recovery from the BMX cycling crash that paralysed him continues positively.

Sam Willoughby with fiancee Alise Post. Picture: Instagram

Australian Olympian Sam Willoughby says his recovery from the BMX cycling crash that paralysed him is continuing positively.

But he accepts his racing days are over, focusing on walking fiancee Alise Post down the aisle when they marry on December 31.

Willoughby, a London Olympics silver medallist in 2012, has progressed from cycling on a stationary bike to crawling on his hands and knees. The 25-year-old from Adelaide said he was constantly improving in his rehabilitation exercises.

“I can ride the bike pretty easily now and am doing quite a bit of crawling,” Willoughby said from the US, where he is receiving treatment.

“I’ve progressed to using ankle weights when I do that now to try to strengthen up whatever function I’ve got in my hips.”

He said he could last three minutes standing on a vibration plate, up from 30 seconds when he started.

Willoughby in April posted an Instagram video of himself on an exercise bike, with the caption, “anyone need a starter for Tokyo #notquitedoneyet”.

But the two-time world champion said he was comfortable with no longer being able to race.

“Obviously I didn’t want it to end this way but it puts things into perspective,” he said.

Willoughby, who now lives in San Diego, has not been back to Adelaide since he suffered a horrific fall while training on a BMX track in Chula Vista, California, last September.

The impact initially left him with no movement from the chest down, after he sustained fractures to vertebrae that severely compressed his spinal cord.

However, he may decide to make the trip home if Adelaide make the AFL grand final.

“If the Crows get in the grand final I might come home,” he told The Advertiser yesterday.

“I’d consider it for sure, I’ve travelled quite a bit in the US now and domestic is a bit different to international.

“But I would definitely consider it, it would be pretty cool and I was actually at the grand final in 1997 so it would be cool to go back.”

Willoughby is currently in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where the BMX World Championships will begin later this week.

He is expected to address members of the Australian team and their families at a ceremony on Thursday morning Australian time. Australia has a strong team of 274.

AAP