By PETER DOUGLAS
THE Olympic dreams of Upwey running star Melissa Duncan are in tatters.
With just three weeks to go until the Rio Olympic Games begins, Duncan, 26, has withdrawn after succumbing to an ankle injury she sustained earlier this year.
The 1500m specialist suffered the injury on the eve of Olympic selections in April.
Until as recently as last weekend, the former Knox Athletics Club member had been in stellar shape after an intensive training block, which included plenty of cross-training.
“I ran over the weekend and pulled up a bit sore,” she said.
“You can’t really ignore things like that … I headed to Canberra for scans and it wasn’t great news, unfortunately.
“The previous fracture had healed, but has opened up again.”
She said the injury had come out of the blue.
“The specialists are a little confused … they’ve described it as a dancers’ injury,” she said.
“They’re not sure why it has happened, we were under the impression everything was OK.
“But it’s not ideal, just three weeks out from an Olympic Games.”
Duncan was aiming to not only represent her country, but really take it up to the best runners in the world.
In fact, Australia’s Olympic selectors had enough faith in her ability that her selection came without her running the 1500m Olympic Trial in Sydney.
The decision was largely common sense, though, as over the previous 12 months she clearly had been the fastest female in the country over that distance.
To put her times in perspective, at the 2012 London Olympics, the winning time for the event was 4:10.74s (the first two place-getters were later banned over failing drug tests), while Duncan – albeit in different conditions – posted a 4:05.56s qualifier in 2015.
That time is the fifth fastest in Australian history.
She said her goal had been to perform well on the big stage.
“Things were going quite well, I’ve never trained so hard in my life,” she said.
“I’ve been doing plenty of cross-training and swimming, I was looking forward to seeing the results in my running.
“I’d been completing three to four sessions every day, basically cramming in everything I could.
“It’s very frustrating, but I couldn’t have done any more.
“I’ve given myself every chance of doing well and that’s all you can do.”
After the withdrawal, her place in the Australian team will go to training partner Zoe Buckman, who competed at the London Games.
In spite of her withdrawal, Duncan has remained positive, saying she has a bright future ahead in elite-level running.
“Although I’ve been doing athletics for ages, I’ve only competed at such a high level for a few years,” she said.
“I’m a 1500m-plus runner, so there’s scope for me to go further.
“I’ll still be running at the highest level into my early thirties.
“For now, I just want to get things right and move forward.”
Duncan, who has returned to her Hills home after the news, said she had benefited greatly from the support of her friends and family.
