New Zealand 800m runner James Preston. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Middle distance runner James Preston is back home in Wellington and eager to return to international competition after a disappointing Paris Olympics.
Preston did question his future in the sport after injury and illness wrecked his preparation for his first Olympics.
2024 had started well with the 800m runner in good form and going close to the Olympic qualifying standard as he retained his national title.
While a perfect summer would have resulted in him reaching the standard in March, Preston was in a good place heading to Europe.
The 27 year old broke Sir Peter Snell's 62 year old national 800m record in Germany in May to confirm his place for Paris.
"To run the standard that early (in the international season) put us in a really good spot to get in some good training before the games," Preston told RNZ.
New Zealand runner James Preston competes in the heats of the 800m at Stade de France during the 2024 Paris Olympics. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
It wasn't long after that that injury hit.
He picked up a minor achilles niggle, something he's experienced before, but it slowly got worse as the weeks went by.
It was diagnosed as achillies tendinopathy, which is common in runners and can return.
Preston said one good thing about the diagnosis was that he could continue to run through it as long as he could cope with the pain.
"Initially it was easy to be positive about it because I still had two months until the games and a scan did just reveal swelling of the achillies.
"Technically there is no greater risk of further damage to the achillies and so all we were looking at was pain management and as long as I could train with an acceptable level of pain then that was fine."
The problem didn't allow him to run at race pace which meant he had to withdraw from a couple of meetings, while he was forced to drop his training into more of a conditioning block rather than getting miles under his belt.
It was about the same time that he tested positive for Covid, but that was the least of his problems.
His training days now included a lot of time on a bike, while his track work was far from what it should have been just before the games.
"We were trying to settle it quickly so we reduced training to the essentials.
"By the end we'd stripped training down to just the things I really needed to do well at a championship."
It was a challenging time for the Wellington project manager as the injury lingered and he was thankful for the mental skills and sports psychology support he had around him.
"We got it settled at the start of July and were tracking really well but then it got aggravated twice more with the third time about a week before the Games."
That forced him to consider all his options, including pulling out of the Games.
"I guess all the scenarios do run through your head and they're not the most helpful which I guess is something I'm working on with my sports physch.
"Three weeks out it got quite angry but we were managing to settle it quite well which helped with the stress as the indications were that it was improving."
However a week out it got angry again and he didn't know whether he could get through two races back to back if had to go to the repechage the day after the 800m heats.
"I was worried that the achillies would get really sore and I wouldn't have the recovery time."
He placed eighth in his heat at the Stade de France.
"I struggled to walk after the heats and hobbled around for the rest of the day but decided to run the repechage because in 10-20-30 years time you don't won't to wonder what could have happened."
He was then sixth in the repechage and failed to make the final.
James Preston (R) leads Sam Tanner during the men's 800m at the national track and field championships in Wellington. Photo: Athletics NZ
Preston said he wasn't disappointed in the way the races went, but was disappointed that he didn't have the best preparation he could have.
"I wasn't able to put away two months of really solid training before the championship and that was the thing I was most frustrated about.
"It's not helpful to think about what could have been but it is something around the learnings that we can take through to next year and the following seasons."
Following the Olympics Preston did think about his athletics future.
"I did wonder if it was worth it, it's challenging because I'm not a full-time athlete, I'm a project manager that does a bit of running on the side.
"For me it was hard because you had a big buildup to a games and it had gone really well until the last two months.
"It was challenging to think do I want to put all this effort in the future and then see that it can all come undone like that."
He credits his partner for helping him to stay positive about his future athletics career believing that retirement wasn't what he wanted.
So he's ready to enter another four year cycle.
"I'm in the best possible spot to try and do well with my career now.
"It would be a shame to waste the position that I'm currently in and there is still more I want to achieve in my sport."
That could include a trip to the world championships in Tokyo next year.
