Jack heading home
SHAYNA Jack is returning home to Australia for surgery after breaking a bone in her left hand in a freak accident at the world swimming championships in Budapest.
Jack fractured her fourth metacarpal, one of the tiny bones in the palm that connects the fingers to the wrist, after she got tangled in the suit of another swimmer.
Told straight away by team doctors that it was almost certainly busted, the 23-year-old Queenslander was immediately taken to a Hungarian hospital for X-rays. She posted a picture of herself sitting on a hospital bed with her left arm in plaster, then returned to the pool to cheer on teammates.
“Thank you everyone for your support and well wishes. The past couple hours I have been in shock and disbelief,” she said on Instagram.
Australian head coach Rohan Taylor said the accident happened while Jack was warming up in one of the practice pools at the Duna Arena before the heats of the 100m freestyle.
“She was coming into the wall, basically taking a stroke into the wall and a girl in front of her just turned and pushed off and as she went by, her finger got caught in the suit,” Taylor said.
“She thought she’d just dislocated it first so got out and called the doctor (Luke Eggleston). He said ‘we’ve got to get you to a hospital for an X-ray’ because they could see an indentation.”
The good news for Jack is that the scans showed it was a clean break, so she is heading home to Australia for surgery.
If all goes well, she hopes to rejoin the Australian team at its training camp in Chartres, France, before the Commonwealth Games.
“She’s very, very determined to get that done and get back on the team and participate and I said ‘great, we’re happy to have you back. We want you back’,” Taylor said.
“She was in pain, but she’s just tough. She was teary when it happened but she’s quickly just gone ‘this is what I’ve got to deal with and get on with the show’.”
In her first competition since returning from a two year doping ban, Jack has been one of the brightest stars of the Australian team in Budapest, winning a gold and silver medal in the relays.
She also qualified for two individual events – 100m and 50m freestyle – and was rated a strong chance of getting a medal.