Jamaican middle-distance runner Adelle Tracey is determined to return stronger after an injury hampered her 2024 Paris Olympic campaign, preventing her from making the finals of both the 800m and 1500m. Despite this disappointment, Tracey, who switched her allegiance to Jamaica in 2022 after representing Great Britain, remains motivated and focused on the future. She is eager to build on her recent successes, including breaking Jamaica's 1500m national record at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

Tracey’s Olympic season was derailed by a plantar fascia tear that first occurred in May. The injury, which she sustained just before the start of the season, forced her to make significant adjustments to her preparation. “The tear first happened, actually in May. I was supposed to compete at the Diamond League in Eugene, and that was going to be one of my first races of the season. And literally the week before, I tore it in training. I couldn’t walk for a good week after that happened,” she explained.

Despite the setback, Tracey remained hopeful and kept pushing her season opener back while cross-training to maintain her fitness. “The whole time, I was cross training really hard because I was in great shape in May, just before I did it, so I was really kind of positive that I would hold on to some of that fitness,” she said. However, the pain from the injury persisted, especially with the demands placed on her foot. “It was just really tough because when it's a foot injury, there's no avoiding the pain because you put so much force through your feet,” she said, her anguish apparent.

At the Jamaican trials, Tracey pushed herself to compete in spikes for the first time since her injury, despite not being fully ready. “I set myself back a little bit at the Jamaican trials, having to put myself in spikes so early, but obviously I wanted to make sure that I secured automatic qualification for the Olympics,” she shared.

Reflecting on the mental challenge of competing while injured, Tracey admitted it was one of the toughest experiences of her career. “It’s so tough, especially the timing of this one, probably the hardest challenge I’ve had to overcome in sport,” she revealed. ” I worked harder than I’ve ever worked to get to that start line and be able to get round. So there was a lot of pride in even making it there and being able to put on spikes that week.”

Despite not being at her best, Tracey remained focused on giving her all in Paris. “My main goal was to race my best race. I just wanted to come away thinking, okay, I’ve actually done everything I could there, and I know that that's going to be so much easier when I'm healthy.”

While her Olympic campaign didn’t go as planned, Tracey’s earlier achievement at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest was a reminder of her talent and potential. In Budapest, she broke Yvonne Graham’s 28-year-old Jamaican 1500m record, clocking 3:58.77 in the semi-finals to become the first Jamaican woman to run under four minutes in the event. That performance solidified her status as a rising star in Jamaican athletics.

Now out of the boot that she had worn to protect her injury, Tracey has begun the rehabilitation process and is feeling optimistic about the future. “With a plantar fascia tear, it's just a case of healing. I wasn’t able to give it time to heal because I was trying to prepare for the Olympics, but now it's just a case of letting it heal. Now that I’ve come out of the boot, it’s about getting strong again and making sure that I have the proportions in place so that that doesn’t happen again,” she explained.

Tracey is already looking ahead to her recovery and the coming season. “I’ll start my rehab program, and I think I’ll probably do two weeks of strength and conditioning before I’ll be able to start returning to running. It might be like two minutes on, one minute off sort of running, and we’ll just build that back up.”

Despite the challenges, Tracey remains driven to return to competition in even better shape. “I think I’m more motivated than ever to kind of get back to where I was and beyond that,” she said. “I’ve got my sights set on the indoors as well because of not having the opportunities to have raced as much this year. I know I’ll be back running by the end of September, so actually, I’m ahead of schedule in terms of preparations for next year.”