Posted: September 8, 2005

Athletics: Injury Scare For Bergqvist

By Bob Ramsak, Track Profile

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MONTE CARLO – By any measure, Kajsa Bergqvist has had a fairy tale 2005 season. Less than a year after undergoing surgery to repair a torn Achilles, the Swede came back to become the world's dominant high jump force. Undefeated in 12 competitions, she jumped two meters or better in half of those, tops the season's list with a 2.03 leap, and captured her first world title.

But when she hobbled into the pre-competition press conference this afternoon at the seaside Fairmount Hotel, a fairy tale ending to her fairy tale season seemed to take a turn for the worse, much like the stormy Mediterranean waves, calm last night, but now pounding against the hotel's break walls.

"It's not a serious injury or anything like that but I strained it a little bit today in training," Bergqvist said, adding that she has no idea about how the strain would affect her in tomorrow night's competition. "It depends on how it feels tomorrow. Sometimes with things like this I can wake up tomorrow and feel great. Sometimes you wake up and it can be swollen. It's just one of those things that just happen. You lose your concentration for just a few seconds and then you can hurt it."

Despite the setback, Bergqvist confirmed that her Achilles tendon isn't causing any problems, a scenario she considered unlikely a year ago.

"Last year when I got the injury I was very doubtful that I would be able to come back to a good level. I didn't know to what level I'd be able to come back to. But it's been incredible."

For tomorrow, she said she'll have to be on top of her game to add another notch to her undefeated season. The field includes Helsinki silver medallist Chaunte Howard, who equaled her two meter personal at the world championships, and Russian Anna Chicherova, who has a 1.99 clearance to her credit this year.

"If I'm going to win, I'm going to have to do a two meter or more performance. And I hope I'm going to be up for that tomorrow."

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