Pittman strikes injury hurdle
By Scott Gullan
July 21, 2005
JANA Pittman’s world title defence is in serious doubt with the champion hurdler struck down by a back injury.
With less than three weeks to go before the start of the world championships in Helsinki, Pittman has been shocked by the news that she has a stress fracture in her lower back.
Scans in London last night confirmed the injury and while a final decision on the world championships won’t be made until next week, Pittman has already pulled out of two critical lead-up events in Helsinki and Oslo.
The 400m hurdles world champion has been unable to train since the weekend when the soreness in her back, which she had been experiencing over the past three months, became severe to the point where she was struggling to run.
It is a cruel twist of fate for Pittman who suffered a serious knee injury on the eve of the Athens Olympics last year.
While she made an amazing recovery to get to the start line just three weeks after an operation, the gold medal favourite wasn’t herself in the final and could only finish fifth.
“I’m trying to be optimistic still but it does feel like a case of deja vu,” Pittman said last night.
“It’s just bad luck and I really don’t want to comment because I’ve learned a lot from last year. I don’t want for this to become a circus.”
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Her every move became front-page news in the lead-up to Athens as she embarked on the extraordinary comeback and Pittman is wary of creating any similar hysteria.
She is taking a few days to weigh up her options with medical opinion believed to have indicated that the fracture could get worse if she continues on towards Helsinki.
That worst case scenario would then impact on next year’s Melbourne Commonwealth Games as the rehabilitation from back injuries is extremely slow, sometimes taking up to six or nine months to fully recover.
Pittman, who won the world title in Paris in 2003, indicated earlier this year that being fit and healthy for her hometown Commonwealth Games was her No.1 priority.
The injury comes at a time when the Australian star was feeling she was getting back to the form that made her the best in the world.
Pittman has been living in England since earlier in the year with her fiance, British hurdler Chris Rawlinson, who is also now her coach.
After missing all of the Australian summer season, Pittman has gradually returned to full fitness following an extensive lay-off post Athens.
She finished third in her first major race of the European season in Paris earlier this month before improving significantly to finish a close second to American Lashinda Demus in the Golden League meet in Rome two weeks ago.
Herald Sun