Olympic paddler Aly Bull bravely defies ‘osteoarthritis s***show’ to qualify for Games

She’s about to become one of the most capped Olympic paddlers in Australian history but Aly Bull has had to fight through constant pain to get to Paris. She reveals all in the latest En Route to Paris podcast.

Portrait of dual Olympian Aly Bull on the Gold Coast.

A former surf lifesaver and firefighter is about to become one of Australia’s most experienced Olympians in her chosen sport but doctors are amazed at how Aly Bull managed chronic injury to be there.

Bull, who will equal the record of the remarkable Anna Wood when she lines up in a third Games for Australia in Paris as a member of the sprint kayak squad, is battling what she calls an “osteoarthritis s--t show” in her shoulder.

Without cartilage in the joint, the 28-year-old is battling daily bone-on-bone pain that she told the En Route to Paris podcast led doctors to question whether she should continue paddling given the stresses training and competing at the elite level put through the joint.

“I’ve got this chronic shoulder osteoarthritis s--t show going on,” Bull told Olympian Rowie Webster in the podcast.

“Excuse my language but it’s been such a hard one to juggle because it is a constant management situation.

“Wear and tear with joint and bony structures, and having no cartilage in there, is quite the daily reminder with that constant pain of bony ache.

Aly Bull celebrates after winning the K1 1000m at the world sprint canoe championships in Germany in 2023. Picture: Bence Vekassy

“When the doctors look at scans and we had lots of opinions, they’re like, ‘I think you should maybe not do this to your shoulder anymore’.

“And I’m like, ‘I’m not done. I don’t want to be done’.

“So to have their support to keep me on the water and keep me paddling when I probably shouldn’t be, it means a lot to me.”

Bull has had to deal with a raft of injuries in the past two years, including a wrist problem she picked up while competing in the Summer of Surf series in 2022, which taught her that having to deviate from her preferred path was not always a disaster.

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“It is so frustrating (dealing with injury) and it just it really makes you have to adapt,” she said.

“Sometimes plan A is where you really want to stay.

“You want to stay on that path that looks the most ideal and optimal but sometimes it’s plan B, plan C that you can grow through and be forced to do some training in another way.”

Tearing ligaments in her wrist meant Bull could not paddle for six weeks and spent the best part of two months on a bike before the international season in what she initially thought would be a disaster.

Sprint Kayaker Aly Bull, Olympic Gold Medallist Skateboarder Keegan Palmer and Water Polo player Gabi Palm are excited for the Paris Olympic Games 100 days out. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“That led to my best kayaking international season I’d ever had,” she said.

“To come away from World Cups with multiple medals and then to come away from the world championships (last year) with two world titles done on the same day – the K1 1000 and then 40 minutes later to do the K2 500 mixed with Jacko Collins – and then also a silver medal at the in the K4 500 and a fifth place in the K1 500 following it, I was like, ‘holy s--t’.

“Maybe I did need to spend most of March and April on the bike and not doing stuff with my arms.

“So that was a big learning curve.”

Aly Bull and teammates celebrate securing a K4 quota spot for the Paris Olympics. Picture: Bence Vekassy

It’s something she’s still trying to navigate given her shoulder issues but she has at least learnt to trust the process and the team of medicos, coaches and sport scientists around her.

“It’s been trying to be smart (about) how much do we need to paddle, and how much pressure do we need to put through the shoulder, because I’ve got a lot of (training time) banked up,” she said.

“But as an athlete, you really live in the moment. You’re looking forward.

“You don’t look at how many hours you’ve actually spent paddling throughout the years, that is always going to be there.

“So this season has been a really big challenge, and last season, to try and manage that the best way possible.

“But we have such an amazing support crew and they’re so smart, so much smarter than me.

“They write the programs and the gym programs and the physios and they’re keeping me moving at the moment, keeping me doing what I what I love to do and what I set out to do.”

Bull and her teammates are in the final phase of training on the Gold Coast after returning from a World Cup meet in Hungary this month.

They head back to Europe next month for a training camp before the Olympics, when Bull will race in the K4 in the hope of climbing on to the podium for the first time.

Originally published as Olympic paddler Aly Bull bravely defies ‘osteoarthritis s***show’ to qualify for Games