JOSEPH McEvoy is a track and field athlete preparing to move to the University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM) in America this year. The decathlon and heptathlon athlete has reached a new high in his young career, but it was not always this easy for him.
In July 2017 Joseph was flying high only two weeks away from competing in the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Gyor, Hungary as well as training with the Underage Munster Rugby team when he took a fall.
He was running the 110m hurdles in the National Outdoors Athletics Championships when he was knocked over onto his ankle crossing the finish line. An MRI revealed that he had torn two ligaments in his left ankle, ruling him out of the sport for a couple of months.
“It was pretty instant, basically the guy in the lane next to me after the finish line, knocked into me and it knocked me over and I instantly felt pain in my ankle,” Joseph said.
The week before Joseph got his MRI, he was “quietly confident” that he could recover and continued to go to the EYOF training camps with his teammates.
Due to his injury, he could not go on the flight to Hungary although he would have liked to go with his friends. It would have been a chance for him to see new people and places.
Joseph added: “It definitely sucked, especially because I knew a lot of the guys going, I watched it on TV and it was hard to watch but you get over it, I guess you have to, there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Junior & U23 Championship 2020 Highlight ⚡
Joseph McEvoy (Nenagh Olympic A.C.) wins the Junior Men 60mH in a time of 8.20!
Full championship results ➡️ https://t.co/dvVmLjcuDr pic.twitter.com/rHWucfvgNd
— Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) April 30, 2020
Joseph was lucky that his father, Johnson, is a physio and was able to help him with his recovery. He began by wearing a large medical boot until his ligaments fused together properly.
When he was able to start running on the leg again in September, he wore tape and a large brace as support for his leg.
He has now focused his all-roundedness in athletics to doing decathlons allowing him to perform in multiple track and field events.
Joseph holds no anger against the runner who caused his injury saying: “obviously it sucked, it came at a really bad time… but things happen when you play sport, it was just an accident by him so no, I wouldn’t hold any resentment to him, then or now.”
