When you think he could blow £70k on training and two years later fail his class 1 medical renewal and then lose his airline job ... I guess the medical is quite important to him.
I for one will giving up rugby as it's a high impact sport and I can't imagine an airline being too impressed if I tried to fly with a cast on my wrist.
Just because this guy can run a 5 km run without breaking a sweat doesn't mean he'll pass a class 1 medical.