Commonwealth Games: Rugby, athlete and artist - the Harrison Walsh story

Harrison Walsh was in the Wales Under-20 rugby squad when injury struck in 2015

There are many strands to Wales para-athlete discus thrower Harrison Walsh.

After suffering a serious knee injury, the former Wales rugby prospect turned to discus.

He now finds himself on the brink of appearing in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham alongside Paralympics legend and compatriot Aled Sion Davies.

Along the way Harrison has had to cope with further disappointment when an ankle injury robbed him of a first Paralympics appearance in Tokyo in 2021.

Away from athletics, he is an aspiring artist. There is no end, it seems, to his talents.

Adapting to athletics

Walsh was a prop and was considered one of the finest prospects of his generation as he prepared to play for Wales Under-20s in 2015 and was just about to start training with the Ospreys' first-team squad.

But seven years ago, an horrific injury ended the then 18-year-old's promising rugby career. Such is his positive attitude, Walsh felt that while one door had closed, another had opened.

Harrison Walsh was capped at Wales Under-16s and Under-18s level

"It is a massive thing I went through from the transition process," said Walsh.

"Having wanted to have played rugby for Wales all my life, going through a retirement at such a young age and being left paralysed from the knee down was very tough.

"I was trying to understand that and find my identity - where you are in the world. I gradually worked that out and found it through athletics."

That process was helped by an old rugby coach, Dai Jones, who put Walsh in touch with Disability Sport Wales.

"I wasn't very good but it gradually built up and taking that step forward helped me get to this point where I can actually represent Wales in a completely different sport," added Walsh.

"I never thought I was going to have an opportunity.

"I am focused on the future but the things that have happened in the past have helped shape me into the resilient athlete I am now.

"I always go back to the idea that choppy seas make great sailors and going through tough times only makes me a better athlete.

"I have had something taken away before. This is a second chance very few people have and I am so grateful."

Walsh and Davies, who has returned to the discus after concentrating on the shot put in recent years, could both be on the podium in Birmingham.

"Competing is the main priority, I want to win medals and I am competing against Aled and all these other guys," said Walsh.

"I want to give them the most respect possible by trying to go out there and beat them and do myself and everybody proud.

"During that transition between rugby and athletics, I looked up to guys like Aled immensely and to be now training and learning off him is awesome.

"It is going to be amazing to compete against him and trying my absolute best to beat him. That's what I am going to try and do maybe and disrupt that party.

"I hope to have many more years training and competing with Aled.

"We are going to the Commonwealth Games as a team together to try and beat everyone else we can and I would not want to be doing it with anybody else."

While he is focusing on athletics, Walsh has also spent time on his hobby, as an artist.

Earlier this year, Walsh showcased some of his talents away from the athletics stadium in an art gallery.

An exhibition in London in May saw Walsh submitting portraits of Dame Kelly Holmes and Sir Roger Bannister.

Harrison Walsh demonstrates his art work

"I have always loved sketching and I was that child who would bring the drawing book into school when you were allowed to bring something in," added Walsh.

"I would spend hours on my own in a book and drawing out of it.

"I picked it up a bit more in Tokyo as I was looking to switch off from competing and then after injury.

"That was brilliant and I got some recognition and displayed in a gallery for the first time.

"I tend to draw a lot of different things. I like to challenge myself and do stuff I have not before.

"I also love drawing where I am, so whenever I am away on a trip or competition I like to draw something that will remind me of that time.

"We can all take photos but I think it would be lovely at the end of my career to have all these sketches so I can automatically take myself back to knowing exactly where I was and how I felt at that time."

Now Walsh has the chance to become Wales' next Commonwealth Games track and field medallist.

"If you are said to me at the beginning of last year I was going to go to Tokyo, display in a gallery and get Commonwealth Games selection, I would have been surprised," he said.

"You sometimes don't realise how special these moments are."

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