Isle of Wight sportsman Arthur Farley is back on track in his bid for a place at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles – but things haven’t always been plain sailing…
Shortly after being crowned European champion in 2022 and being made part of British Sailing’s talent pathway programme, Arthur was told that he had hairy cell leukaemia (HCL) and would require extensive treatment.
The 21-year-old explains:
“My cancer is a chronic one meaning it will be life long and will need treatments along the way. However, I am determined to make sure that it doesn’t choose my path in my sport and that I am able to achieve success at the highest level”.
Farley’s diagnosis put a stop to his promising sailing career as he had to spend around a year away from the water. However, determined Arthur used some of the time to develop one of his hobbies into a serious skill.
He recently beat over 50,000 competitors to become the Esailing World Champion – an online sailing competition – having finished second in the previous 2 years.
Arthur finished chemotherapy in November 2023 after taking almost 1 year out of the boat yet still amazingly demonstrated a Top 10 at both the World and European championships 2024.
Today, Arthur has his sights firmly set on his Olympic dream…
“Training over the winter has been based in Vilamoura, Portugal. Which has been great to build a solid base going into the season and start of the 4 year cycle to Los Angles 2028! We have now moved to Palma for the first World Cup of the season. The world championships are also on the horizon at Qingdao in May!”
To read more about Arthurs campaign whilst living with cancer visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/arthur-farley-3.
