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Jesse Williams Regaining Form After Tough 2013Published by
Williams Puts Injury-Plagued Year Behind HimPublished by the Register-Guard on April 9, 2014 The slow road back from injury for Jesse Williams has come one encouraging inch at a time. That was the incremental goal the two-time Olympic high jumper from Eugene set for himself when he began training again this winter following a 2013 season hampered by a torn ligament his right ankle. It started with a short approach at a 6-foot, 4-inch bar — far lower than his 7-9 ¼ personal best — that has crept higher and higher the last couple of months. “First I could barely make it,” said Williams, 30, who competes for Oregon Track Club Elite. “But I’ve jumped an inch higher every week for the last 14 weeks.” Last weekend at the Sam Adams Combined Events Invitational in Santa Barbara, Calif., Williams cleared 7-5 and then took one shot at 7-6 before he felt “something in my foot, something small, something different,” and called it a day. “I’ve been jumping a lot in practice so I just felt like I needed to feel in rhythm and feel good jumping,” Williams said. “It didn’t really matter the height, but I felt good last week. … I’m in as good a shape right now as I’ve ever been.” Williams won gold at the World Outdoor Championships in 2011, the first American to do so since 1991, and later that year was named USA Track & Field’s Jesse Owens athlete of the year. Read the full article at: blogs.registerguard.com
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