Posted: May 3, 2005

Athletics: Fenn To Miss 2005 Season

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

By Bob Ramsak

Hobbled by a knee problem, British 800 meter runner Jo Fenn will be sidelined for the entire 2005 season.

After keyhole surgery to her left knee last weekend, the 30-year-old has been advised not to compete at all this summer, and to focus instead on the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

While warm weather training in South Africa earlier this year, Fenn sustained a stress reaction to the knee which was later diagnosed as a more serious problem.

"We were half way through our usual morning session when I felt pain in the knee," Fenn, the reigning World Indoor Championships bronze medallist said. "At the time I thought it was just a niggle, but later scans showed more serious damage. The patella is out of line which is pressurising the surrounding area causing inflammation and stress on the cartilage."

While upbeat, the part-time country music singer said the primary disappointment brought on by her injury will be missing a chance to run against Kelly Holmes during the double Olympic champion's final few races in Great Britain.

"She has been an inspiration to me over the last couple of seasons and I really wanted to go out there this summer and see how my hard work over the winter would stand up against a double Olympic gold medallist," Fenn said. "However, I can take heart from the fact that Kelly was 34 years old in Athens and I will only be 33 in Beijing."

Fenn, who clocked a personal best 1:59.50 en route to the indoor bronze medal in Budapest last year, reached the semi-finals at the Olympic Games last summer. Her outdoor best of 1:59.86 came in the finals of the 2002 Commonwealth Games, where she finished seventh. In her last race on the track, she was sixth at the World Athletics Final last September.