Costin aims to be competing again within two years

Unlucky Irish walker Jamie Costin is hoping to be back competing as an international athlete within the next two years.

The athlete was injured last week in a car accident that saw a vertebra in his back crushed, ending the race walker's Olympic Games.

However, he has praised the level of care he received at the Mater Hospital in Dublin and expressed his relief that surgery wasn’t necessary.

If the doctors had needed to operate, as initial reports from Greece had suggested, it would have ended his carreer, he said.

Costin's friend and training partner Robert Korzeniowski today claimed the gold medal in the race the Waterford walker was due to compete in.