BRADFORD on Avon paddler Hannah Brown admits she was relieved when she discovered she was named in the squad for the upcoming Canoe Sprint World Cup events.

The 26-year-old suffered an injury-ravaged year in 2016 when she first injured her knee in a freak accident in the gym, which ruled her out of the Rio Olympics. Then two weeks after a triumphant return to the sport, where she reclaimed her Wildwater World championship in June of last year, she was struck by another long-term injury.

This time she dislocated her shoulder in the Wildwater World Cup and needed surgery before making her second comeback late last year.

But now, Brown is looking forward to staying injury free as well as competing in Hungary and Serbia later this month and admits she is in a good place at the moment despite her recent battle with injury.

“It has been a long 10 months since it all started,” she said. “I guess it is a new season and a new cycle so the selection was starting fresh from this year so I had to go and prove myself out there on the water.

“I’ve done incredibly well from a rehab point of view and it is a good position to be in at this time of the season.

After the lengthy lay-off from action, Brown says that it one of the thing she can’t wait to get back into top class competition.

She also says the agony of sitting out on an Olympics was a bitter pill to swallow, but has left her fully focused for this season.

“I’m looking forward to get out there and race, that will be big, but we are trying new crew combination in the K2 and K4,” added the 26-year-old.

“So getting out there and trying them out on the international scene will be exciting and seeing what we can build on for the rest of the season.

“It was a bit of a disastrous year really, you couldn’t have written it. But I think it is one I have grown from as an individual and an athlete.

“The disappointment of missing the Olympics last year has spurred me on and motivated me more, but it was a lot to go through.”