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

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.

Whether it was a childhood spent kicking ball with his right leg or something inherent in his anatomy, his stride length has always been longer from his right side than his left. “That’s been going on for years,” he says. “I’ve been to many physios and there’s not a whole lot you can do other than strengthening up my left side, but my injury record over the years has been very good, so I can’t complain too much.” 

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. “I could have stayed home and avoided the jetlag, but I’ve been part of this team for long enough – I feel I should be here,” he says. “It should be all systems go.” 

Ireland has teams competing in the men’s and women’s 4x400m along with the mixed 4x400m, and a top-14 finish will secure qualification for the World Championships in Tokyo. A top-two finish in any of Saturday’s heats will secure their spot both in Tokyo and in Sunday’s finals, while teams that fall short can still secure qualification with a top-two finish in the second round on Sunday.

Ireland won mixed 4x400m bronze at the World Relays in the Bahamas last year, but O’Donnell says the focus here is not on medals. He said “nobody is going to be doubling up on the first day” of action and the Irish will “spread our eggs across a few baskets”, though the line-ups will only be revealed about an hour before the races.

“The one secret we don’t have is that our goal is to qualify three teams, not to prioritise one event or get medals,” he says. “If it comes to a stage where one is qualified on day one and we go into day two needing to prioritise another, that’s what we’ll do instead of taking the final seriously. The women’s team are in an incredibly strong position, almost certain to qualify. The mixed is in a very strong position too.” 

As for the men’s 4x400m, it’s been eight years since O’Donnell raced with a full-strength Irish team and there is a strong cohort of Irish athletes that includes Olympians Cillín Greene, Jack Raftery and Marcus Lawler along with Callum Baird and rising star Conor Kelly.

O’Donnell says it’s been “a long time coming” and he’s hopeful the men can also secure a spot in Tokyo. “The squad has definitely improved. We had three guys who ran 45 seconds last year and we had a few guys running 46s. As a squad we're getting there. We have been watching the girls doing well recently and we've kind of been saying, ‘We need to get our act together now.’ 

“We need to get four of our best lads in the best form, passing the baton well around on the track. We haven't done that in eight years and we're going to do that this weekend and see what happens.” O’Donnell was among those to benefit from an increased investment in the relays by Sport Ireland this year, bumped up to the top-level podium tier, receiving €40,000. “It makes a huge difference, especially as someone who has never been sponsored in my career,” he says. “If I have to work, slog a 9-5 and then do this really hard training, to fit in a workload around that, I simply cannot train as hard. And not training as hard equals not as good results.”