Achilles injury failed to keep Holly out of medals
A WELLDESERVED break awaits Holly Robinson, but bigger things could be on the way.
The parajavelin thrower overcame an Achilles tendon injury to set a F46 javelin record and claim a silver medal at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
She returned to Dunedin yesterday with her medal and watch recognising her world record throw of 43.32m among her new possessions.
That throw was ultimately topped by Wales’ Hollie Arnold, who threw a mammoth 44.43m to reclaim the record and win gold.
However, there could still be more to come for Robinson, who was glad to be home after a layover in Auckland on Monday.
Coach Raylene Bates said an Achilles injury hampered the 23yearold throughout the campaign.
The injury had been an issue since before the world championships in London last year.
It had prevented Robinson from doing a lot of the base training exercises she normally tackled.
She had not sprinted for 12 months.
She did not use that as an excuse, however, saying they were able to work on other things that perhaps would not normally have got so much attention.
It also meant there was still plenty of room for improvement.
Alongside that, getting this year’s major event out the way would allow Robinson to have her first hard winter of training in about six years.
It was all a sign there could be plenty more to come.
‘‘It excites me. It really does excite me,’’ Bates said.
‘‘So the first priority is to get this Achilles right.
‘‘I reckon we’re probably about 90%. Get them 100%, then get a really hard winter under our belt, because we haven’t had one of those yet, so that’ll be the telltale.’’
Despite that, both Robinson and Bates were thrilled with the performance, the thrower having reached her goal of throwing a personal best.
While the future was bright for Robinson, she would first take a break,
She flies out today for her hometown of Hokitika, where she will spend a few weeks.
‘‘That’ll be really, really nice,’’ she said.
‘‘To be honest at the moment, I’m just having a break, doing sort of what I want to do, catching up with friends, catching up with family, which is really cool.’’
The Taieri athlete said the event had been incredible and the village ‘‘amazing’’.
Bates agreed, comparing it with an Olympic Games village and saying the Gold Coast got behind the event.
Robinson would likely get back into training in May, with next year’s world championships the new target, then the Tokyo Paralympics the following year.