Chad Perris

EVENTS:  100m T13

AGE:  32 (DOB 15 June 1992)

COACH:  Matt Beckenham

ATHLETICS CLUB: ACT Athletics

PARALYMPIC HISTORY: Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020

PERSONAL BESTS: 10.65 (28 Jan 2023)

BIOGRAPHY

Born with albinism affecting the pigment in his eyes, skin and hair, Chad Perris only began competing in athletics as a way of keeping fit during the AFL off-season. Never having considered a pathway in para-athletics, it was only after joining Perth’s North Beach Athletics club that he shifted his attention to qualification for the Paralympic Games.

Chad Perris is known as the ‘The White Tiger’, a nickname given to him while playing football in his home town of Perth. He burst onto the sprinting scene in Lyon in France at the 2013 World Para Athletics Championships where he broke the T13 200m national record that had stood for 28 years. In the 100m in Lyon, he progressed to the final placing fifth.
Chad continued to make waves, and in 2014 and was nominated, alongside Paralympic powerhouses Kurt Fearnley and Michael Roeger, for Athletics Australia’s Male Para-Athlete of the Year award.

After relocating to Canberra to train under world-renowned coach Iryna Dvoskina, Chad continued to rise in the sport, with a brilliant 2015 World Para Athletics campaign where he won silver in the T13 200m (21.82) and bronze in the 100m (10.96).

He made his Paralympic debut in 2016 in Rio where he won bronze in the T3 100m in the super quick time of 10.83. 
He was again on the podium at the 2017 world championships with third in the T13 100m and fourth in the 200m. In 2019 in Dubai at his fourth World Para Athletics Championships, he reached his highest step on the podium with silver in the T13 100m in a quick 10.86 seconds.

Negotiating the pandemic, he was selected for his second Paralympics in Tokyo. On the clock, he matched his previous times with 10.84 in the final, but the competition had risen and he was fifth.
But in 2023 Chad also was on the rise, breaking then equalling his Australian record clocking 10.65 for the 100m under new coach Matt Beckenham. The time made him Australia's fastest ever Paralympic athlete.

In June 2023 he was named in the Australian World Para Athletics Championships team for Paris where he placed a terrific 4th in the T13 100m clocking 10.87 - missing the podium by just 0.01 seconds.

May 2024 saw Chad line up at his 6th World Para Athletics Championships, held in Kobe Japan. Again he placed 4th but clocked 10.82 – his fastest 100m time at his eight global meets.

Chad completed a Certificate IV in Sport Development and Athlete Services in 2009 with his sights set on a career in sports administration following his retirement from athletics.

With his impairment, Chad has between five and eight per cent vision. He inspires Australia’s 17,000-strong community of people with albinism. His grandfather played for Fulham football team and he watches as many games as he can.

@ 22 Aug 2024 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au