Following on from the news about Michelle Dillon's six hour back operation last week, another athlete has also had to go under the knife. Michelle Parsons - winner of multiple duathlon World and European age-group titles along with two top-five World Powerman Championship titles, victory at several Powerman races and a bronze medal at the European Powerman Championships - has had to undergo surgery on an achilles tendon tear. Although things are slightly better than first thought, it was initially diagnosed as a full rupture, this will come as devastating blow for Michelle, who has been managing a foot and achilles injury for several weeks.

Mother of two, Michelle, 41, is also a sports therapist working twenty hours or so a week on top of a rigid training program, that has seen her rise from a top age-group duathlete to a top class long distance elite duathlete. Michelle's injury is a double blow to a season that saw her ranked world #1 in the powerman series and win (for the second time), a bronze medal at the European Powerman Championships in April, but saw her excluded from the long distance World Duathlon Championships team. An interesting selection decision, that was mentioned in Tom Lowe's Duathlon World Long Course Championships preview back in August.

We received this news from Michelle's husband, Phil Parsons, yesterday:

"Well the good news is that Michelle has not ruptured her Achilles but she does have a tear in the centre of the tendon which the specialist thinks is caused by the heel bone protrusion she has on her right foot. There are two bands of tendon on the outside that are still fully intact and strong which have been supporting the foot and only causing minor discomfort (you women and your pain thresholds). Suffice to say after seeing the specialist on Tuesday and having a further examination this morning she is going to have keyhole surgery to repair the tendon and shave down the bone on Thursday afternoon at the Nuffield in Bristol."

"The surgeon predicts that within six weeks she will be back on her feet and back in full training after 12. So she is really quite pleased to be able to fit in the op so quickly and effectively be back in training well before Christmas. All in all much better news then we thought in Italy last week when the message came through that it was ruptured and that would mean plaster casts and a much longer recovery period."

Tri247 wishes Michelle a speedy and successful recovery.