'Could have been much, much worse': Speed skater Brendan Corey recalls horror incident, chilling doctor's remark
Short track speed skater Brendan Corey evaded death by mere millimetres in a "freak" racing incident last year, when he suffered an injury typically only associated with fatal car crashes.
The Canadian-born Australian doesn't know exactly how many millimetres he was spared by when a rival's blade sliced open his neck at the world championships in Beijing.
But, understandably, it's a thought he'd rather not entertain.
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"It was extremely close," says the 29-year-old, speaking to Wide World of Sports ahead of the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics.
"It could have been much, much worse than it was."
Corey will represent Australia in the 500m, 1000m and 1500m short track speed skating at the Winter Games, which get under way in Italy this week.
Watch the Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina 2026 live and free on Channel 9 and 9Now. Plus, every event live & on demand, every medal in 4K, and exclusive international coverage on Stan Sport.
In a freak moment at last year's short track speed skating world championships, Australia's Brendan Corey cops a rival's blade to his neck. Getty
Both his career and life flashed before his eyes during the 1000m quarter-final at the world championships in March last year when an athlete he was trailing overbalanced.
The crashing athlete, China's Liu Shaoang, went spearing into the ice head first, and one of his legs shot up in the air behind him, stabbing Corey in the throat.
The Melburnian went careening across the ice, like a tree in an Arctic storm, and thundered into the barrier.
Not knowing the damage he'd done — if there was "blood everywhere" or "a big hole" — he gripped his neck with his hand.
"In the moment it was quite scary," remembers Corey, speaking with a thick Canadian accent.
"I basically laid with my hand tightly pressed against my neck until I was in the hospital."
The diagnoses? Two gaping lacerations, and fractured thyroid cartilage.
"Which is the Adam's apple essentially," Corey explains.
Brendan Corey receiving medical attention after the horrific incident in Beijing. Getty
He didn't require surgery; just six stiches.
"Luckily it didn't hit any arteries or anything like that," he says.
"I mean, if I was going to get hit in the neck anywhere, that'd be the place."
Still, for three weeks he couldn't speak, and survived off a liquid diet.
"I was not speaking and I was not eating because every time I would swallow the Adam's apple would move up and down, and that's where the fracture was located, so every time it would move it would pierce into my esophagus," he recalls.
"In the first two weeks there was quite a lot of blood clot sitting on my vocal cords, so that also made it uncomfortable to speak.
"As you can imagine, it would be quite uncomfortable."
Even a liquid diet was almost too painful to bear.
"I remember it would take me almost an hour to drink a juice basically," Corey says.
Back in Australia, the doctor he saw made a chilling remark.
"He said the only other time he's seen that injury is in car crashes when someone hits their neck on the steering wheel," he recalls.
"But then they end up dead anyways from the crash.
"He couldn't believe what had happened when he saw the photos and the X-rays and what not."
Injuries are as much a part of speed skating as lining up on a start line. Corey's defection from Canada to Australia was brought about by injury, when a concussion suffered during a 2019 training session ruined his hopes of earning national selection and forced a rethink.
But a speed skater fracturing their thyroid cartilage is just about unheard of.
Corey (at front) competing in Montreal, Canada in October. Getty
"Personally, I'd never seen that sort of injury happen before. It was really a freak incident because the blades aren't typically going up that high," Corey says.
"My competitor made a pretty big mistake on his own. It was a tight pack there towards the end of the race and I found myself in the wrong place at that moment."
Crucially, the incident hasn't left psychological scars.
"I'd say I'm recovered from it now," Corey says.
"I mean, part of the risk I take every time I step out on the ice is something could happen, you know? We all have blades strapped to our feet.
"It's not something I even think about anymore when I'm skating. When I get on the ice for a race I'm fully focused on the race, and not dwelling on, 'Oh, am I going to get cut in the neck again?'
"I would say this injury has made me stronger as a person.
"It's been tough."
Corey has Australian heritage through his grandparents and mother.
Corey is set to compete at his second Winter Olympics. Getty
He represented Australia at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, but had a forgettable campaign.
In Rotterdam two years later, he won bronze in the 1500m at the world titles, Australia's first solo world championship medal in short track speed skating in more than four decades.
He reckons medalling in Italy this month is "not out of the question".
"In this sport, anything can happen," Corey says.
"And I would say on any given day there's probably about 20 men who can medal, so I'm in with a shot."
Corey took up ice hockey when he was six.
The only problem was he had no care in the world for where the puck was.
"I just wanted to skate fast, and that's how I found speed skating," he says with a laugh.
"I haven't looked back since."
