Speedway champion tells of his ride from coma to comeback

Tai Woffinden, 35, is the most successful British speedway rider [TŻ Ostrovia/Wojciech Tarchalski] Twelve months ago, three-time speedway world champion Tai Woffinden was waiting at the starting line hoping for a new beginning. Elbow surgery had wrecked his 2024 season but he was optimistic his latest campaign would be different. Within seconds, it turned into disaster.

A first-corner crash with his team-mate left him in a medically-induced coma and with a double break in his right leg, a broken back, a broken shoulder, multiple broken ribs, a punctured lung, a fractured arm and extensive blood loss. But after a lengthy rehabilitation programme, the 35-year-old returned to action in Poland on Saturday, scoring 11 points in TŻ Ostrovia's win over Poznan. "The emotion hit me after the race.

I was crying but that's not surprising," he said. "It's been a lot of hard work, sacrifice, pain and suffering. To finally come back was a big relief.

" Tai Woffinden has returned to the sport after a 22-month layoff [TŻ Ostrovia/Wojciech Tarchalski] This weekend Woffinden returns to Krosno, the scene of his accident, but he said there would be "no stress" and he would treat the experience as a milestone. Despite that positivity, the Scunthorpe-born rider said the past two years had been the hardest of his career. "My body was so broken that I wasn't able to do anything.