GB hurdler Weaver speaks out about injury hit seasons

The 21-year-old Great Britain athlete narrowly missed out on a bronze medal at the 2017 European U23 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland in 2017, but has since suffered from a pelvic injury that ruled him out for much of this season.

Slowly becoming frustrated by his lack of time on the track, the London-born athlete has had to alter his expectations going forward.

"I've thought a lot recently about the mental side of the sport and if you'd have asked me what 2019 holds at the start of the year I'd have said ‘I want to win this & that' but I'm not joking when I say I just want an injury-free season and to enjoy my athletics again," he said.

"This season has been one of those things. The injury flared up at the start of December ahead of the race at the end of January and I knew heading in it wasn't right.

"It was one of the strangest competitions I've ever done. I wasn't able to warm up properly, I was on the start line but it didn't feel as though I was actually there. I did the race and couldn't walk afterwards.

"This isn't the first time I've had that scenario. In 2015 as a second-year junior I blew out my knee in a freak training accident. I fell over and bust my PCL (posterior cruciate ligament) which killed the season.

"I've missed seasons before, I've come back and run faster, but at the time I don't think I realised how difficult mentally this rehab process would be compared to 2015."

In 2015 the British youngster suffered a severe knee injury, damaging his posterior crucial ligament which ruled him out for the majority of that campaign.

Coming back stronger from that knock, the Enfield and Haringey hurdler was able to record a personal best at the European U23 Championships as teammate Khai Riley-Laborde took silver.

Despite running 13.75, the 110m hurdler felt disappointed by his performance in Poland.

"European U23s was a funny one because I tore my quad six weeks before the season started and it was a hotchpotch job to see if we could salvage something.

"I found my feet late in the season and I was doing things I'd never done before. I was running super-quick but in the final it just didn't quite come together.

"I ran a PB and everyone was telling me I should be pleased but in the back of my head I know I could have run quicker.

"U23s felt like a shot at redemption after world juniors but it wasn't meant to be. I came into form really late in the season and then my quad started playing up again."

Sportsbeat 2018