‘When it rains it pours’ for Elliott

ATHLETICS

ALL Rosie Elliott could do was laugh after her latest misfortune.

The 23yearold Otago sprinting star had only made it back to the track two weeks ago.

However, she pulled up with a hamstring injury halfway into the 100m at the Porritt Classic in Hamilton.

It was the latest setback in what has been a brutal past six months for Elliott, who emerged as one of New Zealand’s top sprinters last summer.

In August, she was admitted to hospital with a septic kidney infection, which had initially been diagnosed as back spasms.

The infection had been serious, although she did not realise quite how bad it was until afterwards.

That had wiped her out for a long time as she recovered.

A foot niggle followed and although she had ignored it through the early part of the season, in early January it was found to be a stress reaction — the precursor to a stress fracture.

Rosie Elliott

She said that had been linked to trying to do too much too soon after her layoff with the illness.

A period in a moonboot followed, before she returned to run two races in Christchurch.

Then her hamstring pinged last Saturday.

She was not sure how severe that was yet, although she was getting treatment and had a light run on Thursday.

It was as though the foot injury had led to her put stress on her hamstring.

While it had been a lot to go through, she was at the point of being beyond worrying.

‘‘It’s actually getting kind of funny,’’ she said with a laugh.

‘‘It was a bit sad before, but now it’s just like after I had the obligatory cry after the race on Saturday, I had a good laugh.

‘‘It’s tragic, but it’s funny that when it rains it pours.’’

Elliott has moved home to Christchurch this year, having spent the past four years studying anatomy at the University of Otago.

She had graduated in that and was taking a year off to be closer to her family.

Her plan was to return to Dunedin next year and study physiotherapy, for which she had been accepted.

Although this summer had essentially been a writeoff, Elliott hoped to return to the country’s elite group of sprinters next season.

She had won silver medals in both the 100m and 200m national championship events last season and was part of the national 4x100m relay team.

Her personal best times of 11.66sec and 23.59sec in each were also impressive.

‘‘That is definitely the plan,’’ she said of returning to the elite group.

‘‘I don’t think I’ve been discounted from that.

‘‘When I’ve run this season I’ve still run times I’m incredibly happy with, despite everything that’s been going on.’’

❛ It’s actually getting kind of funny