Canada’s Perdita Felicien, the 2003 world champion in the 100-metre hurdles, sat out the Gaz de France Golden League meet last Saturday in Paris and will miss Tuesday’s Super Grand Prix in Lausanne, Switzerland, even though she had planned to attend both meets.
"I’ve decided just to be better for myself and just mentally, not to race until I’m 100 per cent," Felicien said at a news conference in Toronto announcing the launch of a Canadian anti-doping partnership designed to inform athletes about dietary supplements.
"It hurts not being in Lausanne, it hurt not being in Paris a couple of days ago, because I was signed up to go to those races.
"I decided to cancel them, because what’s the point of going there and not being 100 per cent? I’m tired of that."
The hamstring injury is the latest in a series of physical setbacks for Felicien since her infamous fall in the 100-metre hurdles final at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
"I’ve done a lot of soul-searching this year, and I’ve realized it’s hard to get out of the cycle of injury," Felicien said. "I’m realizing now that one thing can lead to a chain of events. So once you’re in a cycle of injury, your mechanics change, the way you train changes, you’re stuck in a pattern that’s not your correct pattern, and you have to fight to get out of that."
Felicien started the season well, finishing second to American Jenny Adams at the Modesto Relays in California in early May, but struggled after that. Her time of 12.80 seconds at the Modesto Relays was the best of her short season and well off her Canadian record of 12.46 that she ran in 2004.
"Things were going really good in May and most of June and then I found out I had the slight tear in my hamstring. I ran in Oslo, I ran in Prague, I ran in the Adidas meet in Carson, Calif., on it and we couldn’t figure out what was going on.
"I had to fly to Toronto from Europe and cancel the rest of my races and just come home."
Felicien said Monday that she has been "training phenomenally" for the past three weeks and could race again next month.
"That’s what I think I need to do right now is just train," she said. "No more of this racing half . . . half my best."
The Canadian track and field championships are scheduled for Aug. 4-6 in Ottawa.
Credit: CBC,with files from Canadian Press
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