Canada's Georgia Ellenwood ruptures Achilles ahead of indoor track and field worlds
2020 Olympian faces long recovery after injuring herself on high jump attempt
Canadian Olympian Georgia Ellenwood ruptured her Achilles on Friday while attempting to qualify in women's pentathlon for the World Athletics indoor track and field championships in Belgrade, Serbia, next month.
After setting an 8.35-second personal best in the 100-metre hurdles, the 26-year-old injured herself on a high jump attempt. The five-event pentathlon also includes long jump, shot put and 800m run.
"I know this is a long recovery and I need to shift my priorities," the Langley, B.C., native wrote Saturday in an Instagram post. "I have a LOT of inner demons to fight right now but I know … I will battle to be on the top again."
Last August, Ellenwood placed 20th in her Olympic debut in heptathlon, amassing 6,007 points across seven events while establishing a 1.83-metre PB in the high jump.
<a href="https://t.co/Em3QC4016p">pic.twitter.com/Em3QC4016p</a>
—@george_ahhh
Two months earlier, the University of Wisconsin grad set a PB of 6,314 points to win the heptathlon at the Stadtwerke Ratingen Mehrkampf-Meeting over the weekend in Ratingen, Germany.
An eight-time NCAA All-American, Ellenwood had a memorable 2018 season when she won the heptathlon at the NCAA championships, Pan American Combined Events Cup and Canadian championships.
Ellenwood missed the 2017 campaign with a broken foot a year after placing ninth in pentathlon at her indoor world track and field championships debut in Portland, Ore.
A great jump for Georgia Ellenwood<a href="https://t.co/WQxgCAnSV4">https://t.co/WQxgCAnSV4</a> <a href="https://t.co/XmONLhpvyH">pic.twitter.com/XmONLhpvyH</a>
—@CBCOlympics