Jakarta 2018 Asian Games 1500 metres champion Jinson Johnson is on the highway to restoration from injured Achilles tendon, and hopes to regain his aggressive health by June and qualify for the upcoming Olympic Games.
In November 2019, the center distance runner from Kerala injured his Achilles tendon throughout a coaching session in Colorado Springs, USA. It took a very long time for him to get well. He even skipped the Federation Cup, held this month in Patiala due to lack of full health.
Things are bettering now, although. “I’ve started training hard and that gives me confidence that I will be successful in next two months. By June, I should be fit to win an Olympic berth during the Inter-State Athletics Championships in Bengaluru,” Johnson advised IANS.
The Tokyo Olympics qualification time is 3 minutes 35 seconds whereas Johnson’s private greatest is 3 minutes 35.24 seconds.
The 2018 season was a excessive level of the Army runner’s profession. At Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April that yr he broke a two-decade outdated nationwide 1500m file by ending fifth with a time of three minutes 37.86 seconds. The earlier file was 3 minutes 38 seconds in the title of Bahadur Prasad.
Also, in June 2018, Johnson erased Sriram Singh’s four-decade outdated nationwide 800m file of 1 minute 45.98 seconds by clocking 1 minute 45.65 seconds in Guwahati. He continued his good kind by successful the 1500m title on the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games in August. He additionally received silver in 800m.
After his sensible run in the 2018 season, Johnson was anticipated to keep it up his good kind into the following yr and in the Olympic yr, 2020. But in March final yr the Olympic Games have been rescheduled to 2021 due to Covid-19.
But, for Johnson, the 2019 season was not as fruitful and issues began turning bitter in the later a part of the yr as he was side-lined with the Achilles tendon damage.
The Asian Games champion, although, got here tantalisingly shut to incomes a Tokyo Olympics berth throughout European circuit in June 2019 by clocking 3 minutes 35.24 seconds – his private greatest. But after that his kind dipped and he sustained the damage.
“It was a bad phase of my running career. But I’m happy to be back to good old running days. I started with moderate training in January that was the reason I skipped the Indian Grand Prix competitions. My aim is to avoid burnout and gradually regain my fitness,” Johnson stated.
With the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) having dominated out a world publicity tour to center distance runners in the close to future due to common performances in this month’s Federation Cup in Patiala, athletes like Jonhson would have to depend on home meets to obtain the Olympic qualification.
“Hopefully, I should crack the Tokyo Olympic qualification time in June. It will be one last chance for me,” he stated.
