Tyrone’s Nick Griggs will miss the entire indoor season after suffering a freak injury that has led to him needing two doses of antibiotics every day while spending two weeks in hospital.
The 20-year-old was knocked over during a congested start in the Under-23 race at the European Cross Country Championships in Turkey in December and suffered a knee injury, despite finishing second.
As a result, Griggs has spent the last while in Musgrave Park hospital, from which he will be released on Friday, and will now be ruled out for the rest of the year.
Griggs hasn’t run since Christmas after attempting various medical assessments and treatments following the race in Antalya and he is set to be out for a while longer as he recovers.
“He obviously just ran on adrenalin in Antalya and ran brilliantly,” Griggs’ coach Mark Kirk told BBC Sport NI.
“But after a series of scans and various appointments, it was eventually determined that he had essentially an infected kneecap. The medical condition is called osteomyelitis and it can be very serious.
“The pain got to the extent that he couldn’t drive to get a scan at one point and he was struggling walking up the stairs or even walking.
“Thankfully, the intravenous antibiotics have finally led to an improvement and Nick was able to sit on an exercise bike for a couple of 20 to 25-minute cycles this week, which was the first exercise he had done in six weeks.”
Griggs had hit the heights last year as he qualified for both the New Balance Games and Millrose Games in the United States having recorded personal bests in the 3000m and 5000m, as well as bettering his 1500m time, but now he has a new battle to get back on the track.
“Nick is making good progress now, but he’s going to have to continue getting oral antibiotics for another four weeks so we’re just going to have to see how things go,” added Kirk.
“Joining our group of athletes for a training camp in the French Pyrenees in April is probably a target for him, but we’re just going to have to see how it pans out.”