African Championships in Athletics silver medallist Emmanuel Korir is confident he will recover in time to fully compete at the 2023 World Athletics Championship in Budapest.
The global event is set to take place between August 19 and 27, and the Olympic 800m champion is confident he will be recovered from a calf injury at that time.
The 28-year-old middle-distance runner did not take part in the national trials held at Nyayo Stadium on July 8 as he was sidelined by a calf injury.
Korir buoyant
“In any case, I won both the Olympics and world titles after coming from seasons in which I was plagued by injuries. Budapest is no exception. I will recover in time.
“The calf injury I suffered was bad and could have degenerated into a tendon injury had I competed at the trials. I really couldn’t kick; my body felt heavy, but the good thing is that I am training well now.
“These injuries only strike hard when I am preparing for a major race, thereby disrupting my plans. I have sought treatment in the United States of America and in Germany,” the world 800m champion told a local media outlet.
Korir’s injury record
In the past, Korir has suffered injuries but gone on to win major honours nonetheless. At the Tokyo Olympics Games that were delayed and held in 2021, he lifted gold in the men’s 800m and that followed a superb performance in the World Athletics Championship in Oregon later that year, where he also won gold.
At the national trials that preceded the 2022 athletics championship, Korir emerged the winner in the 400m but underwhelmed at the Rabat Diamond League, where he finished seventh and was fifth in the Stockholm series.
But Korir went on to impress in the Oregon championship and claim his maiden world title.
Although he was favourite to win gold in the London World Athletics Championships in 2017, he suffered a lower back injury in the semis and ended up finishing fifth in the heat, missing a place in the final.
“I battled the injury for a long time. I couldn’t perform well at the 2019 World Athletics Championships held in Doha.
“It’s amazing how I won the Olympics title with a painful ankle. Only God knows how it happened,” Korir, who suffered an ankle injury just before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, said.
This year, Korir has yet to register a win in the Diamond League circuits, as he finished fifth in Rabat, Morocco, 10th in Paris, France, and eighth in Stockholm, Sweden.
