Two months ago, M50 Tony Echeandia of Queens, New York, thought his chance at worlds was toast. Not long after running the 36-inch 400 hurdles in 56.93, he reported on Facebook that he’d pulled his left hamstring in training “and must withdraw from Lyon meet.” My take was: “Such a shame! A lock for gold and possible WR gone in a blink.” But not so fast. Tony went to Lyon and won the long hurdles (57.53) and took bronze in the 400 (52.98). I recently asked him how he managed that comeback, and he graciously replied: “My pull was more of a cramp pull between the middle of the hamstring and the knee,” he said. “For the first three days, it was sore and I went to see about getting a Cortisone or PRP injection. The doctor told me that it wouldn’t be a good idea because there wasn’t enough time to recover from the injection and that the injury could be recovered enough just to run the 400 hurdle race because of its location.”

Tony leads Thierry Zapha of France and fellow Yank Damon Blakemore at Lyon.

Tony continued:

I had therapy twice a day, and on Wednesday, August 5th, I didn’t feel much discomfort. So I went to the track [near home] to do some light strides and I was able. The next morning went back to the track, ran something a little longer and a little more intense, jumped on the plane and left for France.

Worked out Friday, August 7th, lightly again and found out that my first race was Sunday not Monday like I thought, rested Saturday and started racing Sunday.

In my first race, I ran real slow, added a step to my first hurdle and ran 17 steps all around the track and stayed on my good leg. In the semis, I kept the same start and went out cautiously again and ran 15 steps to two hurdles then 16 to one then back to 15 so my steps where all over the place. Luckily, I recovered for the last four hurdles and in the finals I stayed with the same slow start and picked it up each hurdle, running the first 5 or 6 hurdles in 15 steps and then switching to 17 steps over the last part of the race.

As I passed each hurdle, I picked up my pace a little more. I was relieved when it was over. After each race, I went to get therapy, which helped a lot. The therapists levitra online were able to keep the muscle from hurting or re-injuring, which I think is the reason I was able to run and keep competing.

The 400 was the same. My coach told me to just run the trials, but each round I felt good so I kept going. I was at 90% fitness, but I lost that sharpness I had prior to the injury because of the injury. Regardless, I think I ran well but I would have preferred the world record in the hurdles (56.56 by Britain’s Howard Moscrop), which the tracks in France were fast enough to provide.

I also asked Tony why he runs for Puerto Rico. As a U.S. citizen, he’s eligible to compete for Team USA.

I run for Puerto Rico because I did when I was younger on the national team, and I felt it would be hypocritical to run for the U.S. as a masters athlete because I never ran for the U.S. when I was younger.

You may not know this, but my participation has never been appreciated in Puerto Rico and continues to be so to this day. In both Sacramento [2011 worlds] and France, only one friend form Puerto Rico came to watch me win gold and in France no one from came to the medal ceremony, no delegate from the Puerto Rican Masters or athlete, so basically I was the only Puerto Rican in the room. But many of my friends from the USA were there taking pictures and cheering and that was cool.

I note in my upcoming article for National Masters News that if Puerto Rico were a state, medals won by Tony and two other Puerto Ricans would have moved Team USA into third place on the medals table — behind France and Germany but ahead of the UK.

Here are the other Puerto Rico medalists from Lyon. Tony says Wilfredo (Pico) and Luis live in Puerto Rico.

M70 100 Meter Dash
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WMA: # 12.77
Name Age Team Finals Wind
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Finals
3 Picorelli, Wilfredo M70 Puerto Rico 13.24 -0.4

M85 800 Meter Run
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85 WMA: # 3:09.10
Name Age Team Finals
============================
2 Torres Rosa, Luis Humberto M87 Puerto Rico 4:27.14

M85 1500 Meter Run
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85 WMA: # 6:51.32
Name Age Team Finals
============================
3 Torres Rosa, Luis Humberto M87 Puerto Rico 10:35.94

M85 2000 Meter Steeplechase
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85 WMA: # 11:36.93
Name Age Team Finals
============================
2 Torres Rosa, Luis Humberto M87 Puerto Rico 16:29.33

M85 5000 Meter Run
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85 WMA: # 24:51.70
Name Age Team Finals
============================
3 Torres Rosa, Luis Humberto M87 Puerto Rico 44:37.07