Steph Twell makes a quiet return at the European Cross Country Champs in Velenje this weekend after a nightmarish year of injury.
Back in February the 21 year old was closing in on victory in a low-key race in Belgium, when she fell on a muddy descent, broke her ankle in three places and was ruled out for ten months.
It is the stuff of which all athletes dread. Sitting on the sidelines unable to train and do what you love as others achieve goals which could have been yours.
Indeed, Aldershot club-mate Charlotte Purdue dominated the cross-country season, while Hannah England (ranked behind Twell in 2010) won 1,500m silver at the World Championships.
Yet inspiration was never far away as fellow athletes Kelly Holmes and Paula Radcliffe both made careers out of returning from adversity.
And Twell reacted to the setback with a maturity belying her tender years, viewing her career as a long term process and remaining thankful that injury had struck this year and not next.
After tentatively returning in October, Twell finished a solid 5th at the European Trials race in Liverpool, and will compete in the Under 23 race this weekend confident of individual and team success.
It is fitting that it should be at the Euro Cross where Twell should return, as she made her name there with three consecutive Under 20 titles from 2006-2008. In a stellar junior career she also won World Championship 1,500m Gold and competed at the Beijing Olympics shortly after her 19th birthday.
After poor European and World level cross-country showings and last place in her World Championship heat her senior bow in 2009 was something of a disappointment.
Yet last year Twell showed her true credentials, running 1,500m and 5,000m PBs and going 4th on the British all-time lists in the latter event after smashing the elusive fifteen minute barrier. She also finished a solid 7th at the European Champs before snatching bronze at the Commonwealth Games.
And after quiet winter she had been re-approaching that form before disaster struck in Belgium.
Although her eventual future surely lies over longer distances, Twell will focus on 1,500m in 2012, going head to head with England, 2009 World silver medallist Lisa Dobriskey and a host of other names in a formidable domestic line-up.
Our female distance contingent is strong across the board after some solid Autumn performances. Paula Radcliffe has returned for a final tilt at Olympic glory and along with Mara Yamauchi has already booked her 2012 Marathon place.
After a PB on the notoriously tough ‘Big Apple’ course Jo Pavey is likely to join them, while Purdue, Clitheroe, Dean and of course Diamond League winner Jenny Meadows are other names to look out for.
Twell will have aspirations just as big as these figures but for the moment she will just be glad to be back among them, as she takes that tentative first step back along the journey to 2012.
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