Donna Fraser (GBR) in Edmonton 2001 (© Getty Images)
Defiant Donna Fraser is tentatively planning her first 400m race for almost three years after making a sensational return from long term injury.
Fraser, probably best remembered for her rampaging run into fourth place at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, has been battling a foot problem since the 4x400m semi-finals at the 2001 IAAF World Championships in Edmonton, Canada.
And she made such a successful return to action last weekend at a low key meeting on the West Coast of the USA that her little band of supporters - training mates Jo Fenn, Catherine Murphy and Montell Douglas - were all in floods of joyful tears.
Fraser won the 100m at the University of San Diego in Point Lomo, California, in 11.68 seconds, within nine-hundredths of her fastest ever which she clocked on the way to Sydney four years ago.
And then her long legs devoured the 200m in 23.51 seconds, a time that would have ranked her fourth in the UK last summer behind Joice Maduaka (22.92), Abiodun Oyepiutan (22.95) and Amy Spencer (23.45).
"What made her 200m time so encouraging was the fact that she ran awful race technically," said her coach, Ayo Falola.
"We chose a really, really low-key meeting because we weren't sure how Donna would race after so long. She was hoping to break 25 in the 200 so to run so badly and run 23.5 was ridiculous!
"She did great, really. All the girls were crying for her. It was quite emotional."
The happiness was just as great on this side of the Atlantic once the results were phoned through. UK Athletics Performance Director Max Jones was delighted that his judgment had been vindicated. He was instrumental in keeping Fraser on the Lottery funded World Class Performance Programme and since October 2003 on Norwich Union funding as she battled her seemingly endless injury.
"We have to thank Max, the Lottery and Norwich Union," added Falola. "It's always helpful for any athlete to be able to get treatment, but for Donna it has been vital for such a long time. For example, we've been able to bring physio Penny Hall [funded by the Norwich Union Medical Initiative] on this four week warm weather training trip. That's absolutely important for Donna.
"She had the last operation on her foot last June and began winter training in October. She trained once a week for a start, twice a week in November, three times a week in December, and has been training five times a week since January.
"But all but one session a week has been on grass, which is a major reason why we didn't know how fast she'd run last weekend - she hasn't been training over strictly measured distances. We have totally changed her training. I know it's crazy but she doesn't do any speed work. We don't do any 30s or 60s. All she does is speed endurance - and you can see there's massive improvement.
"Because she has not raced for so long, she just wants to run at the moment. So she's going to race, hopefully, every weekend while we're out here."
After Fraser has sprinted at another low-key meeting in California next weekend, the girls will decide whether to join forces and enter the 4x400m at the famous Mt SAC Relays meeting at Walnut, California, on 15-17 April.
That would represent yet another giant leap forward for Fraser, whose last 400m was in August 2001, when she took over from Murphy and ran the 'glory leg' of the relay semi-final to pilot Norwich Union GB into the final at the World Championships in Edmonton.
She was in too much pain to run the final - in which the team finished fifth - but nobody realised at the time just how long it would be before she would be able to battle back.