Grimaldi making encouraging progress
MAKING it to Tokyo is starting to seem like a far greater possibility for Anna Grimaldi.
It has been 15 months since the Otago Paralympian last competed, having been out with a stress fracture in her foot.
Her most recent competition was the world championships in July last year. After that, she was in a cast and unable to walk.
Progress has been slow for the 21yearold, who won gold in the T47 long jump at the Rio Olympics.
However, the past few months have been encouraging.
She is back running, moving from jogging 30m all the way to sprinting 100m at about 90%.
Over the past three weeks she has also begun the early stages of long jump as well.
The injury is one which may never fully heal.
However, she is now able to run without pain, although at times it gave her discomfort.
The 2020 Tokyo Paralympics still figure as the longterm goal and that has more significance than most would realise.
Tokyo had always been her target — making it to Rio and winning was a bonus.
She is excited she is in a position where that could be a possibility once more.
That was in contrast to 12 months ago, when she was ‘‘in a cast and pretty angry, upset and devastated’’.
‘It was quite stressful, or scary, that it might not be a possibility for me,’’ she said.
‘‘So it is quite nice to see where I am now and see that there is still a year and a half to go.
‘‘I’m just excited to be back. I think the injury sort of made me step back and have a look at everything that’s happened in the past and could happen in the future.
‘‘I’m grateful this journey has started going in the right direction.’’
She hoped to return to competition this year, although was unsure what that would look like.
It could be as simple as jumping off a six stride runup, rather than the usual 16 to 20.
That was something she would decide at the time though.
She also hoped to feature at the national championships in March, while the world championships in November 2019 were also on her wish list.
The main thing was not to rush, though.
Having spent 15 months recovering, she did not want to rush things and have another setback.
It was not all bad either.
She had been able to go back to basics to get rid of some bad habits.
‘Those were things she had not had the chance to do previously, as her first world championships in 2015 were so soon after starting the sport.
Another positive had been it gave her the chance to focus on her quantity surveying diploma.
She finishes that this year. Her only exam this semester is next month.