Nick Griggs fighting way back to fitness and form after being sidelined due to injury

Three scans followed in January and Nick Griggs was diagnosed with osteomyelitis, a bone infection that was likely related to the wound from the fall. “They still don’t know the root cause,” he admits. 

BACK TO FITNESS: Nick Griggs is getting back to form following osteomyelitis. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Between the highs of two European U23 medals, seven months apart, Nick Griggs sank to some difficult depths. Up until recently, the career of the rising star from Tyrone had been one of steady improvement and outlying performances, but all that changed when he was pushed to the ground at the start of the U23 race at the European Cross Country in Antalya, Turkiye last December.

Griggs got back to his feet swiftly, then sliced his way through the field to win silver. But as he cooled down after the race he felt a strange, achy pain in his right knee. He thought it was nothing major and trained on in the weeks after, but it kept swelling to the point where he was soon struggling to bend his knee.

Three scans followed in January and he was diagnosed with osteomyelitis, a bone infection that was likely related to the wound from the fall. “They still don’t know the root cause,” he admits. 

“Maybe the mud got in and caused some sort of infection which sounds incredibly unfortunate, that something so small leads you to have so much time off.” 

Griggs was hospitalised for a week and given intravenous antibiotics, then put on oral antibiotics for another four weeks. Only in mid-March did he start back running, hammering bike sessions to regain fitness before returning to his usual 85-90 miles a week by late May. He opened his season with a 3:55.97 mile in Belfast while at the Morton Games in Dublin, he clocked an Irish U23 mile record of 3:52.42. At the recent European U23 Championships in Bergen, Norway, he claimed another silver medal, outkicked in the 5000m only by Dutch star Niels Laros, a 3:45 miler.

“In the immediate aftermath I was a bit disappointed but once you take a bit of time to reflect, you realise not only the year I’ve had but the competition I was up against,” says Griggs.

Coached by Mark Kirk in Belfast, Griggs is one year into a sports science degree at Ulster University. He signed a professional contract with Puma long before enrolling there but figured the full-time athlete life could wait, this year’s issues showing him the value of a “safety net”.

This weekend, he’ll race over 1500m at the Irish nationals in Santry and while he’s a huge underdog against the two “big guns” of Irish men’s 1500m running, Andrew Coscoran and Cathal Doyle, he’s ready to contend: “I’m confident I’m in shape and whether it goes fast or slow, I think I can compete.” 

Next Saturday, he will chase a fast time over 5000m in Oordegem, Belgium, hoping to get near the automatic World Championships qualifying standard of 13:01 and to boost his world ranking. “It should be the perfect race to completely go for it,” he says. 

“I’ve been happy enough so far (with the season) but there’s been nothing outstanding. I’m coming off the Europeans feeling really good so I hope the next couple of weeks there’ll be something really big. That confidence and belief is coming back.”