Queensland trio lead Diamonds past England in Glasgow
The reigning Commonwealth champions backed up their opening-round win over Tonga with another commanding performance, taking...
In 2025, track cyclist Kristina Clonan suffered from a serious back injury that threatened an early retirement from the sport she loved. After 12 months questioning her future, her return to elite competition gave her a new perspective she’d never experienced before.
“It happened in February of 2025,” Clonan says. “We got an MRI and they diagnosed fluid in the L3 — so essentially a stress fracture.”
After her diagnoses, Clonan was determined to come back stronger and ready to take on the challenge ahead. But after eight months had passed and the problem was still there, she started to question her future in the sport.
“It started to interfere with my life. I couldn’t tie my shoelaces. I couldn’t sit down for too long or stand up for too long,” she said.
“I became a hostage in my own body.”
Clonan was living in Adelaide at the time of the injury, but made the return home to the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) at the start of July, working closely with QAS Senior Strength & Conditioning Coach, Dan Messer.
Messer shared the complexities of the injury and spoke about the importance of working with Kristina to understand what training she could tolerate at the time.
“A lower back injury is not like a broken arm — you can’t see it,” Messer said.
“Early on it was really about understanding what she could tolerate and looking towards what we could give her that would allow her to progress — without allowing her to fall off the cliff and be back at square one.”
QAS Physiotherapist, Sam Madden acknowledged the challenges of Clonan’s injury:
“Being a strength and power athlete and the demands of her sport require some pretty gym focus, which is not ideal with this kind of pathology.”
Collaboration was key to her journey back to the track, with the QAS team working closely with Aus Cycling and Kristina to support her recovery.
After 13 months of rehabilitation, Clonan returned to Track Nationals and experienced a full-circle moment.
“To be back at Track Nationals, it was a surreal experience,” she said.
“For the first time in my life, I stepped back from the competition and looked at all the people in the in-field, and all the people who are striving for this goal.
“[Previously] I didn’t count it as an achievement. It just became something that I needed to do to then go and race internationally and do all the other things that were on my horizon.
“It was like coming back to the first time I made the Queensland team and you put on your skin suit and it means something.
“I was like wow, I made it.”
With this new-found perspective, Clonan shares that making the 2026 Commonwealth Games team is going to feel different to previous years. To put on her Australian skin suit and soak up a major Games, while being able to perform without the limitations of an injury, is an exciting prospect.
“It’s going to feel different because it hasn’t been a given and the amount of work that has gone into getting back to that level is astronomical,” Clonan acknowledged.
