It was confirmed last night that 2009 1500m World Silver medallist and former Commonwealth Champion Lisa Dobriskey will be opening up her 2012 campaign in Armagh on the 8th of February. She will be the star attraction in an already strong women’s line-up, which seems to be growing year on year. Lining up in the 3k, Dobriskey will be hoping to make a positive start to the Olympic year, where she will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2011. Last summer was her first under the tutelage of husband come coach, Ricky Soos, who is himself an Olympian. Her split from long time coach George Gandy was well publicised, however the pair know her below-par summer season wasn’t down to this. A long term hip injury, more commonly found in ballet dancers was the cause, meaning she couldn’t generate any power or run at top speed. After being knocked out in the first round in Daegu, Dobriskey didn’t hang around, getting a flight home the next day to seek the answer to her problem. After a successful operation at the back end of the summer, Dobriskey is confident her troubles are behind her, and is in reasonable shape after returning to training just over 2 months ago. This will be her first true test though in the year where she hopes she can challenge for an Olympic medal once more, after narrowly missing out when finishing 4th in Beijing in 2008. Her indoor 3000m best of 8.47 makes her the undoubted favourite to take the Armagh women’s title on her debut at the annual event, and we are excited to see her in action.
