READ MORE:<\/strong> Lyon defies calf injury to bat in heroic Ashes scenes<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> IndyCar champion survives 'deadly' high-speed barrel roll\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The 29-year-old was left with a snapped collarbone when a jump went horribly wrong during the Little Athletics national championships, where he was as an ambassador.<\/p>\n He found a small window to get in some training and, soon after, was on his way to hospital in an ambulance.<\/p>\n "I was doing a run-up session and a spike got caught in the bag (high jump mat). I was coming in fairly quick. Just a run-up, onto the mat landing on my feet, just a run-through almost, pop-up sort of thing. Spike got caught, I went over, landed on my shoulder, tried to roll with it, but obviously I had come in too quick," Starc told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n "Hit my head a little bit, too. I wasn't quite sure what I had done, but I was feeling each side and on my left side there was a little bit of a bump that I could feel and it was obviously the bone … Spike got caught in mat, mat raised too much, lost footing.<\/p>\n "It is quite rare."<\/p>\n In an indication of just how "rare" such \ufeffan accident is, an Olympic high jumper from Bulgaria, Tihomir Ivanov, commented on an Instagram post by Starc that he had done "exactly (the) same thing" more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n A parent of a Little Athletics athlete rushed to get Starc an ice pack and a sling\ufeff as he waited on the high jump mat for the ambulance, moving as little as possible.<\/p>\n Soon after, a surgeon was patching him back together with a plate and screws.<\/p>\n And Starc's partner Laura, an exercise physiologist, put her expertise to good use as he went about his recovery.<\/p>\n "The night after surgery she was straight into it," Starc said.<\/p>\n "She was giving me some mobility in my shoulder, trying to get it moving as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n "\ufeffShe's awesome."<\/p>\n Starc, a New South Wales Institute of Sport athlete coached by Alex Stewart, is a Commonwealth Games gold medallist and a five-time national champion.<\/p>\n He wants to break through for Olympic and world championship medals over the remaining years of his career \u2014 a goal he'll continue to pursue when he contests the world championships for the first time since finishing sixth in Doha in 2019.<\/p>\n He finished fifth at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, although his jump of 2.35 metres would have medalled at every Olympics since the 1992 Barcelona Games.\ufeff<\/p>\n He didn't compete at last year's world championships, held in Eugene, because of a soft-tissue foot injury.\ufeff<\/p>\n "Pre-collarbone break … I was jumping really well\ufeff. I did nationals off not much because of the foot. But I jumped a box PB (personal best), short-approach jump session off a box, 10-centimetre box, jumped 2.40 (metres) which was a PB. That gave me a lot of confidence," Starc said.<\/p>\n "Everything was gearing up to be a good season and I don't think I've lost that much. It wasn't a lower-leg injury, everything lower half of the body I've kept a lot of strength and power and speed. I've got high hopes, to be fair. The collarbone is feeling fine now, I'm running 100 per cent, jumping.<\/p>\n "It's going to be kind of hard to tell how I go in these first couple of comps, but I'm always backing myself going into a major. I think I'm a major player. When it comes to a major comp I usually step up and be a competitor.<\/p>\n "Mid-2.30s I think I'm capable of … It really does depend on how other people go, but I just focus on myself. If I know I can jump early to mid-2.30s, I know I've got a chance to win a medal."<\/p>\n Starc, the younger brother of cricket star Mitchell Starc,\ufeff explained how his thoughts on his collarbone fracture differed to his thoughts on his foot injury.<\/p>\n "The break of the collarbone in terms of time of the season \u2014 it's early\ufeff enough that I still have a season, whereas with the foot that was the last comp before the world champs," he said.<\/p>\n "I guess the break of the collarbone is very pinpoint … 'This is what has happened'. Whereas with the foot it was kind of like, 'All right, you may have done something with your plantar fascia, you've probably bruised your heel'. It's not as clean-cut as you have broken a bone. So it was kind of more on feel for my foot. I guess there was a little bit of hope.<\/p>\n "But comparing the injuries, the collarbone one happened in April, as opposed to July, or whenever I did the foot injury."<\/p>\n After beginning his overseas campaign at the Stockholm Diamond League, Starc will contest the Silesia Diamond League on July 17 (AEST) and possibly the London Diamond League on July\ufeff 24.<\/p>\n He'll then roll up for a meet in Bochum, Germany on August 5.<\/p>\n "I'm pretty excited to get back out there on the international scene," he said.<\/p>\n "I'm very keen."\ufeff<\/p>\n For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n
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