Heartbreak leads to inspirational return

For many people, breaking a bone and three ligaments in your right leg, would be heart breaking. For FAST’s Grace York its where her comeback story begins. The unfortunate incident of a football tackle going bad, Grace was left unable to walk or run. Her football and athletic seasons over before they really began.

The start of 2023 was a real bust for Grace, figuratively and literally. Abandoning her crutches and taking the tentative first steps back to walking, seemed such a long way away from pursuing her 400m sprint dream.

Now over half a year later, Grace has found a spring in her step again. The return to training has bought happiness and the chance to forget about the past and focus on a new challenge. Come this December (2023), it will have been 12 months since Grace broke her personal best time at the Australian All Schools Championships in Adelaide, running 1:01.77 to finish 5th in her heat of the 400m.

With a new training outlook, Grace is more determined to break the 60s barrier in the 400m in 2024. Grace is now joined by her football team mates at running training these days, as her ACT Premier League team, seek to get faster over summer, together.

Grace’s story is an inspiration and a reflection on her maturity, and resilience to fight back after a serious injury.