Griggs missing indoor season after freak injury

Nick Griggs won silver in the under-23 race at the European Cross Country Championships, despite hurting his knee before the start

Tyrone athlete Nick Griggs' conspicuous absence from the current indoor season is because of a freak knee injury that has required twice-daily doses of intravenous antibiotics during a two-week hospital stay.

The 20-year-old is scheduled to leave Musgrave Park Hospital in Belfast on Friday.

His knee trouble began when he was knocked to the ground while waiting at a congested start line before the under-23 race at the European Cross Country Championships in Antalya on 8 December.

Griggs immediately got up and went on to finish a brilliant second as he clinched a third successive individual medal in an age-group category at the event.

However, after the race, the Ireland athlete began to experience pain in his knee and while he attempted to combine training with medical assessments and treatment over the next couple of weeks, he had to stop running a couple of days after Christmas and has not run since then.

"He obviously just ran on adrenalin in Antalya and ran brilliantly," Griggs' coach Mark Kirk told BBC Sport NI.

"But after a series of scans and various appointments, it was eventually determined that he had essentially an infected kneecap. The medical condition is called osteomyelitis and it can be very serious.

"The pain got to the extent that he couldn't drive to get a scan at one point and he was struggling walking up the stairs or even walking."

Griggs back on an exercise bike

With oral antibiotics and painkillers not improving Griggs' situation, a decision was taken just over two weeks ago that he would be admitted to Musgrave Park Hospital.

"Thankfully, the intravenous antibiotics have finally led to an improvement and Nick was able to sit on an exercise bike for a couple of 20 to 25-minute cycles this week, which was the first exercise he had done in six weeks," said Kirk.

Griggs' outstanding form last summer when he clocked huge 3,000m and 5,000m personal bests and also bettered his 1500m time, led to him earning spots at the two premier US indoor meetings, the New Balance Games and the Millrose Games, but getting well again has become his current priority.

"Nick is making good progress now, but he's going to have to continue getting oral antibiotics for another four weeks so we're just going to have to see how things go," Kirk said.

"Joining our group of athletes for a training camp in the French Pyrenees in April is probably a target for him, but we're just going to have to see how it pans out."