Évora, Lavillenie, Svoboda and Urech all recovering well from recent injuries | 27.01.2012
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| French pole vaulter Renaud Lavillenie. |
Portugal's 2008 Olympic Games triple jump champion Nelson Évora was operated upon on Tuesday in Lisbon after fracturing his right tibia while warming up for a local competition last weekend.
The surgery lasted just over two hours and reportedly went well with the attending doctor telling Portuguese media that the leg should now be even stronger and that in about nine weeks Évora can begin training.
Theoretically, Évora could compete this season and doctors said he could be fit to return to action at some point between the start of May and July but the athlete and his coach said that that they are most likely to give this summer a miss and prefer to recover calmly while planning for a comeback in 2013.
France's reigning European pole vault champion, both indoors and outdoors, Renaud Lavillenie has been back training with his poles since Wednesday after getting the green light the same day from his surgeon who patched up his fractured left hand last month
Lavillenie, who also came second behind sprinter Christophe Lemaitre in the 2011 French Athlete of the Year poll last month after his exploits last year which included winning the European indoor title with a French record of 6.03m, was operated on two days after a training accident on 5 December.
“This was first time with a pole (since the accident) and I was checking for the sensitivity of my palm and fingers. I can say I‘m the same as before my injury and I am pleasantly surprised,” said Lavillenie.
His first competition this winter will be at the Samsung Pole Vault Stars meeting in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, a European Athletics Indoor Permit Meeting, on 11 February. Three days later he will compete on home soil at France top indoor meeting this winter in Lievin.
Lavillenie is also planning to compete at the World Indoor Championships in March, which will be his third appearance at the event, and he will be looking to get on the podium in Istanbul after not qualifying for the final in 2008 and 2010.
Another 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships gold medallist, Czech hurdler Petr Svoboda, underwent Achilles surgery in Turnov on Tuesday.
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| High jump queen Blanka Vlasic of Croatia. |
He is planning a spring training camp on the Spanish island of Grand Canaria. “I aim to be ready for both the European Athletics Championships and the Olympic Games,” said Svoboda.
Switzerland's talented 22-year-old 100m hurdles record holder Lisa Urech, the second fastest European in 2011 with 12.62 and also the 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships 100m hurdles silver medallist, has reported that all is going well with her recovery after a hip operation in October.
“Participating in the Olympics is possible, even going to the European Athletics Championships is not out of the question,” said Urech.
Croatian high jump star and 2010 European Athlete of the Year Blanka Vlašić is also due to go under the knife on Tuesday, to remove a small growth on an Achilles tendon and a piece of cartilage from her ankle, after deciding earlier this week not to defend her world indoor title that she won in Doha in 2010. She recently returning from training camp in South Africa and has decided not to jump at all this winter.
“The reason is that I have been advised to remove a small piece of cartilage in my foot. It has disturbed me off and on for the last year and now it is time to fix it,” said Vlašić.
“It is a small operation done with arthroscopy so I will be able to walk out from the clinic the same day. The rehab is also short and I feel very positive about this. I have a very strong and solid training behind me so this will make me look very positive for the summer season and the Olympic Games in London as my highest goal,” she added.
