Michelle Jenneke is hopeful of continuing her Olympic campaign after dramatically tripping and falling in her 100m hurdles heat.
The popular Aussie athlete performed her trademark jiggle ahead of her first appearance in Paris and started the race well, pushing near the lead after two hurdles.
But her back leg caught the third hurdle and she fell hard to the ground.
“Oh my word,” the EuroSport commentator said. “How hard did she hit the track?!”
The 31-year-old bravely picked herself up and completed the race, knowing she needed to finish to secure a place in the repechage round being held the following day for those runners who didn’t qualify for the semi-finals.
Jenneke said she felt a pop below her knee before she took the massive tumble, leaving her Olympic dream hinging on talks with Australian medical staff.
“I’m all right, actually,” Jenneke said.
“I actually feel like I’m in great shape. I got out really well.
“I’m really proud of that. And then I think it was the third hurdle, I just felt something popping in my lead leg, down towards my knee.
“So I just lost all power and that’s why I took a tumble.
“But I just really wanted to make sure that I got up and I finished.
“First of all, it’s the Olympic Games and I want to be doing that. And second of all, I thought there was still a chance that I might be able to do repechage tomorrow.
“So at this stage, like, I have no idea how the leg is. I’ve got to go back and have a chat to our medical team.
“But I’m really hoping it’ll be all right.”
Jenneke felt like she was in great shape, which only made the fall more frustrating.
“Last couple of days it’s been a little bit sore, but we just thought it was a little bit of tightness, like nothing really to be concerned about,” she said.
“I mean, we do some general overall treatment all the time. But there was no reason to think anything like that was going to happen.
“I thought I was going to come out today and run a PB. So, honestly, a little disappointed.
“But, you know, spirits are still high because I know that there’s a good run in there, so we just got to see what we got.”
Fellow Aussies Celeste Mucci and Liz Clay will also be in the second-chance saloon after finishing seventh and fourth respectively in their heats.
Source Agencies
