diff --git a/include/kore/python_methods.h b/include/kore/python_methods.h
index df993f0..7df75e0 100644
--- a/include/kore/python_methods.h
+++ b/include/kore/python_methods.h
@@ -675,6 +675,7 @@ struct pyhttp_client_op {
 	int			headers;
 	struct kore_curl	curl;
 	struct python_coro	*coro;
+	struct pyhttp_client	*client;
 };
 
 static PyObject	*pyhttp_client_op_await(PyObject *);
diff --git a/src/python.c b/src/python.c
index 485f115..4ed0b7d 100644
--- a/src/python.c
+++ b/src/python.c
@@ -4228,6 +4228,7 @@ pyhttp_client_request(struct pyhttp_client *client, int m, PyObject *kwargs)
 	op->state = PYHTTP_CLIENT_OP_RUN;
 
 	Py_INCREF(client);
+	op->client = client;
 
 	kore_curl_http_setup(&op->curl, m, ptr, length);
 	kore_curl_bind_callback(&op->curl, python_curl_callback, op);
@@ -4302,6 +4303,7 @@ pyhttp_client_request(struct pyhttp_client *client, int m, PyObject *kwargs)
 static void
 pyhttp_client_op_dealloc(struct pyhttp_client_op *op)
 {
+	Py_DECREF(op->client);
 	kore_curl_cleanup(&op->curl);
 	PyObject_Del((PyObject *)op);
 }