His condition remained unknown until his family released details of the world champion’s health following another round of surgery.  

The Olympic silver-medallist crashed while training at his track near San Diego before he was airlifted to hospital.

He suffered fractures to his C6 and C7 vertebrae. His C6 vertebrae was removed and replaced by a titanium cage.

“At this stage, Sam still has no movement from his chest down but has regained use of his arms and is slowly regaining some sensation in his legs,” Willoughby’s family said in a statement released by Cycling Australia.

“Sam’s next step is to begin a long road of recovery at a rehabilitation centre and, while the details are still to be finalised, at this stage, it is expected that Sam will be transported to a US-based rehabilitation centre in the next few days.

“Fortunately, this surgery was successful enough at decompressing his spinal cord and aligning his vertebrae that a second operation for further stabilisation was not necessary."