British sprinter mounts comeback after motorcycle crash

Double Olympian and two-time European champion, 100m runner James Ellington of the UK, who fractured multiple bones in his right leg, left ankle, pelvis and face in a January 2017 motorcycle accident, will race the 100m at the Müller Anniversary Games in London this weekend, and he has his sights set on Tokyo.

James Ellington thrives on proving people wrong. He was never meant to be capable of running again but is competing for the first time in three years this weekend. 2020 Olympics? Tell him he can’t. https://t.co/KfhhROlyxo

— Ben Bloom (@benbloomsport) July 16, 2019

According to a story in the Telegraph, doctors thought he might never walk normally again, let alone sprint or race. But Ellington is one determined athlete.

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Ellington, who was 31 at the time, was attending a training camp in the Canary Islands when the accident occurred. (His teammate, Nigel Levine, who was on the same motorcycle, was also injured when the bike was struck by a car head-on.) The pair were flown back to the UK for surgery and endured many painful months of physiotherapy. Ellington now has a carbon-fibre rod in his leg and some metal hardware in his pelvis.

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“I 100 per cent think I can make it to Tokyo [2020 Olympics],” ­Ellington told Telegraph Sport. “It might sound crazy, but in my head that’s a walk in the park compared to what I’ve had to come back from.

“I’ll come out next year and I’ll be an animal, that’s what I believe.”

Ellington was on the British 4×100 relay team that won gold at the 2014 and 2016 European championships. He has not raced since August 2016.

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Levine, who suffered a broken pelvis in the accident, was also hoping to mount a comeback, but tested positive for clenbuterol in November 2017 and is serving a four-year suspension.