Qatar’s world champion high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim will return to action at the Polish International Athletics Friendly Championship today.
Qatar Athletics Federation secretary-general Mohamed Issa al-Fadala said that the 27-year-old has fully recovered from the ankle injury.
“Mutaz will take part in Polish International Athletics Championship, and will also participate in some training programmes ahead of his participation in IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 in September,” al-Fadala added.
Barshim was forced out of action in July last year when he injured his ankle while making an attempt at breaking the world record. With the win already in the bag with a 2.40m effort at the Gyulai Memorial in Szekesfehervar, Hungary, the 2017 World Athlete of the Year had the bar raised to a would-be world record of 2.46m.
When he landed on the mat on his second try, it was clutching his left ankle. While the star thought he had suffered a fracture, it eventually turned out to be a torn ligament that forced him out of action for the rest of the season. He only returned to training in April this year, ahead of the Asian Athletics Championships, a test event for September’s IAAF World Athletics Championships, at Doha’s Khalifa International Stadium.
He had told Gulf Times then, “I really wanted to do it because the (Asian) championships were being held at home. Luckily I have bigger championships at home coming soon, so I said to myself, ‘You know what, sometimes that’s how sport is’.
“I have just come back from an injury, and I don’t want to do something that will cost me the World Championships later. So I want to make sure that I am a 100 percent fit.”
Barshim had won bronze at the London 2012 Olympic Games, before going one better in Rio to take silver. He also brought home the gold after an imperious display at the 2017 World Championships in London.
He was earlier the Asian Indoor and World Junior champion in 2010, and won gold at the 2011 Asian Athletics Championships and Military World Games.