Sprinter Chad Perris jokes about going through so much sunblock every morning he might as well bathe in the stuff.
While others hid from the scorching sun on Wednesday, the 24-year-old Paralympian had no choice but to train outside in the baking 35 degree heat.
"A lot of people with albinism are put off by the sun," Mr Perris said after a gruelling morning session at the Australian Institute of Sport.
"But if I want to be successful in my sport I have to go outside to train.
"I have to run in the morning so I can have a break before weight training later in the day."
Mr Perris is one of about 1000 Australians with albinism, a rare genetic condition that limits his body's ability to produce the protective pigment, melanin.
Before going outside he has to slap SPF50 sunscreen over any areas of exposed skin and he wears dark sunglasses to shade his sensitive eyes.
"I do everything I can to combat the sun," he said.
"I even looked into getting a sunscreen sponsor at one point. I probably go through more than a litre of the stuff in a month.
"Everyone at the track is baffled by how much I use. But I just can't afford to run out of it."
He will need to stay stocked up as the last gasps of a low intensity heatwave brings temperatures as high as 32 degrees on Thursday and a scorching 38 on Friday.
But Mr Perris said countless hours of gruelling outdoor training, and countless bottles of expensive sunblock, had all been worth it for success on the track.
The athlete known as the "white tiger" won bronze in the 100m sprint at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and was now eyeing up the Para Athletics Championships held in London during July.
"I've got my first starting block session on Wednesday morning. It's a really short turnaround from the Paralympics in September 2016.
"It's going to be insane. I'll be racing in my preferred 200m and they've sold out the stadium for almost all of the sessions.
"If I can win another medal, that would be great."
1 comment
New User? Sign up