Heyward's return from double surgery to Commonwealths

Heyward's return from double surgery to CommonwealthsImage source, Welsh AthleticsImage caption, Jake Heyward is the Welsh 1,500m record holderByGareth BaileyPublished1 minute agoCommentsIn August 2022, Jake Heyward was lining up for the 1,500m final at the European Athletics Championships in Munich.Only an inspired Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who ran a Championship record time, could beat him that day.But masked underneath Heyward's silver medal-winning performance was a long and arduous battle with injury.An ongoing foot problem saw the Welshman undergo double Achilles surgery in 2024.The 27-year-old would spend nearly two years on the sidelines before he could run again.Fast forward to January 2026 and Heyward would restart his athletics career.Six months on, he has set a new one-mile Welsh record and will represent his country in that same event at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games."It's been a long journey; most people never come back to the sport after one Achilles surgery, let alone two," Heyward told BBC Sport Wales."I couldn't run for 20 months and I started running again in January, so I've only been running five or six months."In the beginning it was couch to 5km type stuff, so those people out there doing Park Runs know exactly what that feels like! "To get back to this level quite quickly is really encouraging, and every single month that I've got training I'm only getting fitter, so I'm super excited."Two Welsh records set at London Diamond LeaguePublished16 hours agoHeyward has spent a lot of his career managing injuries and pain.He competed at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics, finishing ninth, but the effects of his injuries were all too clear."When you're in the Olympic final but you're thinking, 'When can I put my spikes on in this call room because I'm in so much pain and day to day, I can barely walk', it's not a nice feeling," he recalled."Othe...