The women’s 400m hurdles heats began on Day 5 of the World Athletics Championships here at Hayward Field in Oregon on Tuesday.
Lina Nielsen of the United Kingdom is also competing in this section, and they should finish among the top four racers tonight.
What Illness Does Lina Nielsen Have?
Lina Nielsen suffered a leg injury when she was scheduled to race in the 400m and 4x400m relay with identical twin Laviai in 2017.
She has withdrawn as a precautionary measure after suffering a “stress reaction” – the stage preceding a stress fracture – on a fibula.
While it wasn’t the worst-case situation, discovering the magnitude of the damage and psychologically processing the possibility of having to go into rehab rather than participate was a difficult proposition.
“I’d never had a true injury before, never ripped a muscle or anything like that, and it seemed like a bruise in the initial stages,” Nielsen told the Voice of Sport.
“It literally felt like a severe ache running all the way through my leg around the damaged region at the airport before the European indoor championships,” she continued.
“It felt like someone had wrapped a spiked band around my leg. It was excruciatingly uncomfortable every time I attempted to put my leg down while walking.”
She began practicing yoga to aid her physical and emotional recovery. She had no idea she’d fall in love with it so deeply that she’d wind up training to be a yoga instructor.
Lina Nielsen Is A British Sprinter
Lina Nielsen is a British sprinter who won the 400 m hurdles in 55.59 seconds at the 2021 European Athletics Team Championships. Lina is also a yoga instructor, having completed her training in Rishikesh in the summer of 2019.
She is now a yoga instructor on the fitness app Fiit.
Nielsen has been competing in the 400m for over nine years. At the European Junior Championships in 2015, she was a finalist in the 400m and a gold medalist in the 4x400m relay.
In 2016, she won the BUCS indoor championship and the England U-23 championship, when she broke 53 seconds and recorded a personal best of 52.97.
Nielsen, who is trained by Frank Adams, made a strong start to the 2017 indoor season, coming third in the 400m at the British Indoor Championships in February. It qualified her for the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade.
Getting her mind around not being able to compete there, on the other hand, has taught Nielsen a lesson that has energized the Chemistry student like nothing before.
“This damage has ignited the blue touch paper, the fire within me.” You can make the GB squad again if you make it once, and I really want to compete in the World Championships, when earlier I might have been a little more patient and ready to wait until next year.”
“Not right now; I want to be there, and I’m working harder than I ever have.”
Unfortunately, she finished eighth in the British Championships in Birmingham, missing out on qualification for the 2019 World Championships in Doha.
She was really depressed about that and needed anything to take her mind off it, she stated.
“I didn’t want to tell people I was an athlete because I’d have to explain why I didn’t qualify for the World Championships. I needed a vacation from competing as an athlete.”
As a result, she made a cover story that she worked as a receptionist and went to India.
What Happened To Lina Nielsen?
Lina Nielsen went to India with a ruse that she worked as a receptionist.
However, when she and her classmates stretched their brains and bodies on the mat, they began to unravel.
Nielsen took up the physical pressure very well while others struggled.
One night, their anatomy teacher saw Nielsen’s foot arch and the impact on her soles and revealed to the class that she was a runner of some type.
She finally admitted it and share her story with her friends.
Covid came not long after Nielsen left India with a new group of acquaintances and a yoga teacher certification.
Nielsen was reviewed once the Olympics were postponed. She had to be honest with herself after admitting it to her classmates.
“The most essential thing was being honest about what I wanted from this sport and how to achieve it,” she added.
“Going into training and races, my mindset has greatly improved.
“This year, I aim to attend all three events [Worlds, Commonwealths, and Europeans]. I want to gain as much experience as possible in order to lead to Paris.
“That is the goal: to compete in the Olympic Games and win an Olympic medal.”
Her form, on the other hand, is fast and improving quickly. She shaved more than a second off her 400m hurdles personal best in 2021 before dropping another half second in Rome earlier this month with a 54.73-second race.
It moved her up to ninth on the British all-time list and 12th in the world this year.