Perseverance in the face of adversity is paying dividends for Godfrey Okerenyang who looks to be back on track after a couple of injury-interrupted seasons.
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The talented track and field athlete recently competed at the 2024 NSW Athletics State Open Championships and he believed the meet was a big success.
"It was a very good step in the right direction," Okerenyang said.
"I competed in two 100m's and two 200m's and with the 200m's it was only my second time doing it in five years.
"So I think two races done in one day was a big positive for me and my coach.
"I feel like this season and probably the last couple of seasons I've just been trying to get through races injury free and being able to do that was something I was very happy with.
"It gives me a little bit more confidence going into Nationals and Uni Nationals coming up."
Okerenyang has endured a horror run with injuries over the past couple of years and he revealed that he's probably had over 10 hamstring tears during that time period.
Despite the challenges, he has remained committed to his craft and feels confident he can put that chapter behind him as he chases personal bests in the coming months.
"It's mainly been hamstring injuries," he said.
"Taking turns on each leg it's probably been over 10 tears now, but they haven't all been very bad.
"It's just been trying to keep it strong and run at a fast speed while not hurting myself.
"It's going all well this season and I've only had one slight niggle, so it's very good.
"It's probably had the biggest mental toll on me for the last couple of years and I haven't been in the best headspace.
"But I've never given up and had the right people around me the whole time.
"I know I can get back there and this season I've already ran my second fastest all-legal time.
"So I feel as bad as it was, it's even better being able to get back there and know that there's so much more to give."
Okerenyang has two big meets in the next month at the Australian Athletics Championships and UniSport National Athletics Championships.
He has some key goals that he wants to achieve at both events in regards to results, but he mainly wants to get through the period injury-free.
"I'm only doing the 100m at Nationals and the main goal is to get a PB," he said.
"But hopefully I get towards the final as close as I can and just run well and of course get through injury free.
"At Uni Nationals I'm doing the 100m, 200m, and long jump for the first time in a while.
"I just want to get through that comp safely, run a PB in the 200m and hopefully PB in the the long jump.
"I can hopefully maybe medal in the 100m as well, that would be good."
Now based in Sydney, Okerenyang is part of the Camden Athletics Club and he revealed there are a few key differences with being based in a capital city compared to being in the country.
"With training when I was younger I was only one minute away from Jubilee," he said.
"Now I travel over an hour to get to training, but when I moved to train with Greg (Wiencke) in Temora it was kind of similar to that.
"With competitions I feel it's a lot better being able to get high level comps every week or so which has been good."
Godfrey's younger brother Daniel is kicking major goals with his own athletic exploits and is right in contention to qualify for the World Athletics U20 Championships that are being held in Peru in August.
Okerenyang said he's very proud of his younger brother's achievements and was hopeful he could achieve some big things in the near future.
"Yeah he's been doing amazing," he said.
"He's probably my biggest supporter, he's helped me get through a lot of things and I owe a lot to him and obviously everyone else in my family as well.
"It's good to see him doing well and I can't wait to see where he goes for the rest of the season and his future."