Fractured foot no problem for Ayris
New Zealand’s Commonwealth Games pole vault bronze medallist Imogen Ayris has revealed she did it through the pain of a fractured bone in her foot.
Sporting a moon boot as she lined up at New Zealand House in Birmingham alongside fellow medallists from recent days yesterday (NZT), Ayris confirmed her diagnosis.
She told 1News she only just found out she had been competing with a fractured foot.
‘‘It’s been a little niggly for a while. When I got off a plane in America [before last month’s world championships in Oregon] for a session I felt it a bit but I just thought that it was from the travel.
‘‘I kept training on it, it kind of went away, and then it came back a bit. We were strapping it up for training sessions, didn’t modify any training, and then after competition we got it scanned to figure out what was really going on and it was fractured.’’
The 21-year-old, a three-time national champion, joked she could admit she felt the pain now that she had a medal around her neck.
‘‘I’m quite good at ignoring pain. I’ve jumped with some pretty wacky injuries in the past so it didn’t affect me at all. It was there but it wasn’t,’’ she told 1News.
‘‘I had probably downplayed it in the past two weeks building up to this but I didn’t want to make it a thing if it wasn’t a thing.’’
Her bronze medal win on Wednesday (NZT) carried special significance.
Ayris dedicated her first medal at a major international competition to her late father, Barny. ‘‘It’s so special. After my dad passed two years ago, I promised that I would make him proud, and I feel like I’ve done more than that today,’’ she said.
A former fraud investigator, Ayris’ father almost never missed her compete after the Aucklander took up pole vault in 2014, and last saw her in action when she won the 2020 national title in Christchurch.
‘‘My dad’s brother and sister were here today, and my dad’s aunty, all of his family was here . . . it’s so special,’’ Ayris said at Alexander Stadium.
Now, post fracture, Ayris said a planned season in Europe was off the table. ‘‘I’m going to go home, put my feet up and let this bone heal.’’