Back from the brink

John Farrow’s Olympic dream was on the verge of becoming reality in 2010, before a last minute cull of entrants in the men’s skeleton event saw him narrowly miss out. Nearly four years on, the former mountain biker is well placed to make his Olympic debut in Sochi, but there was a time on his journey from Canada to Russia where he was almost forced to walk away from his sporting career for good.

Farrow’s start in skeleton came after competing for five years at the highest level in downhill mountain biking. A series of injuries resulted in both shoulder blades being shattered from his time on the bike, so Farrow decided on a change of scenery, swapping the summer for the winter and the dirt for the ice.

“I’d always wanted to do skeleton from seeing it in the 2002 Olympics,” Farrow explained, “but it’s a random sport and there’s not much information on how to do it, so all my attempts failed."

In 2009, while he was nursing his second shoulder blade injury in Canada, Farrow eventually managed to find a skeleton recruiter, who directed him where to go to kick start his career in the sport. Being an adrenaline junkie he picked it up straight away, and immediately targeted a start at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

Farrow said a lot of the skills he learned while mountain biking translated into skeleton, which is why he was so close to making an appearance at the Olympics after just one season. Though it was the 2010/11 season following the Olympics when Farrow confirmed his place among the world’s elite, finishing 23rd in the world with just two seasons of racing under his belt.

“In 2010/11 I had a full season after the Games and put in a lot of effort. We normally do eight races in a calendar season and I was able to put in 16 because I wanted to get in as much as possible,” Farrow said.

“I had an awesome season. There are about 10 tracks around the world that you slide on, and I got to learn all those tracks in one season, which was a huge step for me.”

All signs pointed to Farrow enjoying an even better season in 2011/12. After a strong off season he commented he felt better than he ever had; he had a new sled, new gear and a lot of the elite level athletes were commenting on how much speed they thought he had picked up during the Australian winter season.

However in November 2011, just two days before he was to embark on what was meant to be his best season yet, Farrow found himself wondering if he would ever compete again.

“I was sprint training in New York and I slipped on a spike, twisted my knee, and all the ligaments let go. I remember it so vividly,” Farrow recalled.

“The second I was on the ground it brought back memories of my mountain bike injuries; the pain, the feelings and the unknown.”

As he faded in and out of consciousness from the pain and the -2 degree temperature, Farrow thought about giving up, before a clear question popped into his head.

“The one thing I asked was, ‘Well what are you going to do now?’” Farrow said.

“You have these goals all your life as an athlete and you need something to work to. What was the goal? I had nothing of any substance that gave me drive. I said, ‘it’s not meant to end like this.’” 

Doctors eventually determined that during the accident Farrow ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament, lateral collateral ligament and biceps femoris, fractured his tibia, tore his posterior cruciate ligament, damaged the peroneal nerve in his leg, and paralysed his foot as a result of the accident.

In the days immediately following the injury he underwent surgery in New York, before waiting two weeks to return to Australia. Only part of the surgery could be undertaken in the USA because of the build-up of scar tissue in his knee, and after playing a months-long waiting game, he opted to have surgery in April 2012.

Farrow spent most of his downtime in the living room, noting that one of the biggest achievements of his recovery was being able to crawl into the bath for the first time. It was during his recovery that he met John Marsden, Head of Physical Preparation and Sport Science at the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia. An initial meeting scoped the length and process of rehabilitation, before Farrow began sliding without running in March 2012.

“I went back to sliding to keep my mind in the game,” Farrow said.

“At 140 kilometres an hour you have to be sharp, and it takes a while to get that back, so the runs were to keep the mind sharp. 

“I remember my first training session where we did just little stuff, and I threw up because my body was full of so much junk. Walking and small conditioning stuff like box steps were a big deal.”

Another issue Farrow faced was the prospect of being unable to run because of his paralysed foot. During rehabilitation, Farrow and Marsden decided to give his foot some time to recover and allow it to begin firing on its own accord. However, with the 2012/13 season on the horizon, and Farrow needing to compete to have a shot at Sochi, he used his mechanical skills and took inspiration from Paralympic athletes.

“We had braces that I walked with and I thought, Paralympians can lose limbs and it doesn’t stop them from doing great things, so I had no reason to give up.”

Farrow and his mountain biking friends tested a series of braces before incorporating a blade design into the brace, which eventually worked. He broke a few braces while overseas prior to the 2012/13, but his friends sent more while he was on tour.

The braces, along with the intense rehabilitation work during the middle of 2012 obviously worked; in the first two weeks of the 2012/13 season Farrow equalled his best ever result, before setting a new personal best of ninth place the following week.

His continued success for the rest of the season earned him a spot at the 2013 world championships, where he finished 27th, and an all-important spot on the world cup tour for 2013/14 ahead of the Sochi Winter Games.

With a strong season under his belt and the prospect of a debut Winter Olympics on the horizon, Farrow is brimming with positive energy ahead of his departure for Europe.

“I’ve been able to work like a proper athlete. Last year was rehab, the year before it was the injury,” Farrow stated.

“It’s been nearly two years now and I’ve just started training like a powerful athlete, not just a guy coming back from injury.

“I’ve been able to do a lot of powerful stuff, and I don’t need a brace anymore. We found a company which made a professional brace for me, but I’m hoping I don’t have to use it.”

During Farrow’s moment of clarity as he was lying on a stretcher, about to be loaded into an ambulance and taken to hospital, he finalised his goal. He never set a date or put a number on which placing he wanted to achieve, opting instead to just “be better than he was before.”

Despite skeleton being one of the more intimidating sports on the Winter Olympic schedule, Farrow could not be happier with his welcome return to form. An Olympic experience would only further cement that feeling, especially after the journey he’s been on.

“I’m pumped to get back to racing. I love racing, the nerves, the challenge, and the whole atmosphere.”