Perth paratriathlete Brant Garvey is celebrating after qualifying for the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games.

Mr Garvey finished second in the Penrith World paratriathlon in Sydney last week, which qualified him to compete at the games.

Mr Garvey was forced to embrace his disability from a young age after being born with a congenital problem that required his leg to be amputated above the knee.

“I got involved in sport wherever I could and that was one of my ways of fitting in and improving where ever I could,” he said in a video produced by HBF.

“I loved being able to do things where I was able to compete against abled bodied people.”

Mr Garvey was 28 when he taught himself to run.

” I was walking with my wife and our two dogs along West Coast highway and out of the blue I thought it was a good time to give it a go,” he said.

“My artificial leg flew off into the air and bounced down the footpath as I used my face to break the fall.”

Mr Garvey then started to run every day, and in 2013 became the first Australian above-the-knee Paralympian to complete an Ironman triathlon.

He is also a motivational speaker and an ambassador for HBF, who supported him on his journey to Rio.

The 2016 Rio Paralympic Games will be held in September.