“I remember everything about that day. I knew straight away that I’d broken my back.”

In 2018, Callum Russell had just started making a living out of mountain bike racing. He had a new sponsor and was excited to race at Gisburn Forest. He knew every twist and turn of the course.

But on a practice run he misjudged a jump and, as he crashed to the ground, he knew it was serious. He couldn’t feel his legs and, as he was airlifted to hospital, he was certain his life had changed forever – but he also knew, even in that moment, that he would adapt.

“I genuinely didn’t have that moment of trauma. There was the realisation that it’s going to be hard, I’m going to have to relearn things, but that’s what we’re moving on to,” Russell, 30, tells BBC Sport.

“I never at any point had a moment of a breakdown or anything like that.”

When he came round from surgery Russell learned he had severed his spine at T11, in the middle of his back, and he was paralysed from the waist down.

“The realisation dawns that you’re going to have limited bladder control, bowel function, and you’re going to have to learn to use a wheelchair full-time,” he said.

But within weeks, with the support of family and friends, he was back outside.

“It was the first thing I wanted, to get outdoors. I want to feel physically fit, so how am I going to do that?”

The answer, initially, wasn’t cycling. His first attempt on a handbike wasn’t enjoyable because it felt so different from his beloved mountain biking.

“I wasn’t in the mindset to do that. I just thought ‘I’m going to close the door on that, and I don’t ever need to do it again’,” he said.

Rowing, though, as a sport he had never tried before, gave him a new sense of freedom. He quickly progressed to Great Britain’s Para-rowing squad, winning a bronze on his international debut at a World Cup in 2022.

But it was during a training camp that he saw one of his team-mates, Paralympic and world champion Ben Pritchard, using a handcycle to ride around the lake after they had finished training. His interest in cycling was rekindled.

Russell switched sports in 2023, and two years later made history as the first British male handcyclist to win a World Championship medal with his time trial bronze in Belgium.

“I always say that rowing gave me what I needed from sport, in terms of fitness, but not necessarily what I loved from sport – just being able to go out the door and be independent and explore,” said Russell, who is from Stockport.

“[Winning] was an amazing feeling, and I’d like to think that I was able to celebrate that with the other handcyclists as a bit of a team effort, and not just off my own back.

“I had family and everyone there, so it was a real realisation that this could be something.”

In Alabama this weekend, Russell will return to the World Championships as one of Great Britain’s medal hopes.

And while as a UK Sport-funded athlete, cycling is Russell’s number one focus, he supplements his income with modelling jobs on the side.

Signed to a talent agency, who he first met not long after his accident when he decided to attend a casting on a whim, he has appeared in television adverts and worked with numerous well-known brands.

“I would say I’m quite reserved, and I’m probably always the one that just observes, sits back and watches the situation, but there’s definitely situations where I would never have tried before, or opportunities that I would never have tried before my injury, because I’d have just thought that’s not for me,” he said.

“Whereas now, it’s sort of like why is that not for me?

“Something’s happened to me that’s pretty unique, and so why should I not go and try other opportunities that you never know what will come from it.”

Reflecting on his injury, he added: “I think that there is definitely an amazing life after injury. There’s no doubt that it will change your life, and there’s huge learning curves there, but there’s also massive amounts of opportunities that maybe you wouldn’t have before that injury, so it’s definitely worth just grabbing them with both hands and going for it.”