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Jana Rawlinson reckons her comeback race was a bit messy but it was a welcome start with the Beijing Olympics just over five weeks away.
Competing at a low-key meeting in Bydgoszcz, Poland, world champion Rawlinson led for most of the 400m hurdles race before being run down by world championship bronze medallist Anna Jesien and finishing second.
The Australian clocked 55.94 seconds – three and a half seconds off her personal best – in her first race after nine months out dealing with a toe injury, surgery and complications to the toe which further delayed her return.
Dissatisfied with her race form, Rawlinson did a full training session afterwards.
She was cautiously optimistic about her toe, which had forced her to stop running altogether for 10 days last month while she had intensive physio treatment.
“My toe fared quite well,” said Rawlinson.
“But as it has been throughout the whole injury, it is a day to day prospect so I will see how I wake up tomorrow and take it from there.”
The leading Australian track and field Olympic gold medal was relieved to simply be competing again.
“After such a long time since my last race it was a great feeling to get out on the track again, but it certainly wasn’t a great race in terms of my execution,” Rawlinson said.
“I messed up a few hurdles and have a couple of other areas of my race that need a lot of work.
“But I am realistic about what I can achieve after such a long time between races.
“I am looking forward to working hard between now and my next planned race in Rome, and taking some of the learnings from this race into the next one.”
Rawlinson’s coach and husband Chris said he was happy with the performance ahead of her next race at the IAAF Golden League meet in Rome on July 11.
“After all the work that Jana has done off and on the track it was just great to see her out there running again,” he said.
“It is early days, and there is plenty of work to be done, but all in all I was happy in the performance given the lead up.
“What most impressed me was not the race, but Jana’s commitment after when she admitted she wasn’t happy with the execution and wanted to get back on the track and keep running – so we went across to the warm up track and she did a full track training session.”
Australian pole vaulters Steve Hooker and Paul Burgess also competed at the Poland meeting, with Hooker clearing 5.81 metres to claim second spot and Burgess sixth with a 5.61m clearance.