Our gutsy Mia steals the show
A SUPER display of courage by Geelong sprinter Mia Gross in the face of a devastating injury setback has become the talking point of the Commonwealth Youth Games.
Despite some brilliant individual efforts from Australian athletes, the golden moment of Aussie spirit in the Bahamas was clear-cut when the gutsy Torquay sprinter insisted on running in the 100m with a suspected broken wrist.
Gross, 16, had burst out of her final practice start on the warm-up track into an absentminded competitor jogging across her lane.
The pain was immediate after breaking her tumble with her right wrist and only a weather delay gave her time to get her forearm put in a splint and strapping.
“The doctors advised me not to run, but no way was I coming this far not to race,” the Geelong Grammar schoolgirl said.
“I was a mess with it happening just five minutes before going to the call room and I’m just grateful adrenaline kicked in when I did race so I could get through the pain.”
Gross could not even put down her blocks, which an official kindly put in place before she had to use her right knuckles, rather than fingers, to steady on the track in her starting pose.
The tears flowed when she raced a heat and semi-final on pure heart and a distorted arm action. She missed out by just .02 sec on joining Queensland sprint star Riley Day in the final.
“Mia’s a fighter. She did incredible to run two races like that when I know a lot of people who wouldn’t have run at all,” Day said.
Gross, who won the Geelong Advertiser’s Junior Sport Star of the Year Award last year, qualified in February after breaking Victorian under-17 100m and 200m records.