From a horrific injury to Paralympics triumphs: Inspiring Australian athlete Lauren parker speaks

Australian athlete Lauren Parker is this week’s guest on This Is Your Journey – thanks to Tobin Brothers.

Parker’s story is one of the most inspiring in all of Australian sport, having represented her nation as both an able-bodied athlete and Paralympian.

While finishing her preparation for the 2017 Ironman Australia Triathlon, Parker was on a bike travelling at 40km/hr when both of her tires blew, catapulting her into a guard rail.

From that incident, Parker became suffered a punctured lung, broken ribs, broken shoulder and broken pelvis and became a paraplegic.

While Parker’s life was changed by the accident, it wouldn’t stop her competing at the highest level as she became a para-triathlete, a sport she’d go on to dominate for her country.

Parker won silver at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics in the Paratriathlon and went one better at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, winning gold in the event. She also claimed gold at Paris in the H1 to H4 road race.

As one of Australia’s most inspirational athletes, Parker talked about her career, comeback, struggle and much more on this week’s episode!

Listen to Parker’s full chat with Sam Edmund below, as well as other episodes in the player.