'It should be all systems go' - Chris O'Donnell wins fitness race, ready to play part in China

O’Donnell joined his Irish teammates at their training camp in Hong Kong last week and, with daily treatments from physios, his hip turned a corner earlier this week.

STRONG TEAM: Chris O’Donnell takes the baton from Jack Raftery. The team for China includes Cillín Greene, Jack Raftery, and Marcus Lawler along with Callum Baird and Conor Kelly. Pic:©INPHO/Morgan Treacy

For Chris O’Donnell, the first race has already been run – trying to get a nagging hip injury under control before this weekend’s World Relays in Guangzhou, China. “I’ll be ready, I’ll be running,” he says. “Just in the nick of time.” 

The two-time Olympian from Sligo has been a pivotal part of the Irish mixed 4x400m team in recent years, helping them to world and Olympic finals along with European gold in Rome last year. But in recent weeks his presence in Guangzhou was in doubt, O’Donnell straining a tendon in his right hip, an issue he can trace back to his teenage years, when his chief focus was on soccer.