Bobsledder Carrie Russell is on the mend from a horrific injury she suffered from a freak accident in training recently. However, she says she should be fine to begin competing once the bobsled season begins in November.
Russell, 30, suffered the injury in training when the sleigh ran over her foot, ripped through her shoes, opened a gaping wound on her right foot and broke her little toe. It required 15 stitches to close the deep gash that almost went through to the bone.
Her troubles got worse from there as the wound became infected and required surgery to remove the infected skin, she revealed.
However, the situation is now under control. She told Sportsmax.TV on Thursday that she is on the mend. “I’m coming on okay. I should be ready for the season but not at 100 per cent,” she said, explaining that the doctors had indicated that she would be out for three months.
Russell is hoping to qualify for the 2022 Winter Olympics set to begin in February 2022. She will be looking to qualify for the Olympics by mid-December but the injury is a setback as she is unable to resume the intense training required to be fit enough for competition.
“Right now I am doing nothing. I am doing some core work, twisted abs with a medicine ball,” said Russell, who is to see the doctor tomorrow for a progress report on the injury.
She said she can walk but she doesn’t want to put pressure on the injury out of fear she might aggravate it. However, she says mentally she is ready to take on the challenge of regaining her fitness before the season begins.
Russell, who represented Jamaica at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, won a gold medal in the Monobob World Series in Park City, Utah in January this year.
A former track and field athlete, Russell won a gold medal at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow as a member of Jamaica’s 4x100 relay team. Two years earlier, she won a gold medal in the 100m at the World University Games in Shenzen, China.