Injured teen star Sam Ruthe won’t be rushed back onto the track

Sam Ruthe, 17, has a stress fracture, affecting his plans for the Commonwealth Games and world under-20 championships. Photo / Photosport

By RNZ

There is no timeframe yet on a possible return to the track for teen running star Sam Ruthe.

The 17-year-old revealed at the weekend that he had suffered a stress fracture in his leg.

It put into doubt his plan for the year which included the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July followed by the world under-20 championships in the United States.

His father, Ben Ruthe, said Sam’s team have had a chance to review his medical status and complete a recovery plan back to fitness.

“The nature of the injury to his fibula means that Sam will have a full recovery without any lasting impact to his running career,” Ben Ruthe said.

The teenager is being treated by High Performance New Zealand doctor Dan Exeter and Tauranga-based physiotherapist Leanna Veale, with his coach Craig Kirkwood.

His father said his son’s recovery includes swimming and biking before the introduction of “load-bearing exercise moving through to jogging”.

Ben Ruthe said the aim is for a full recovery rather than rushing back to training.

“It means no decisions have been made around the upcoming Northern Hemisphere track season at this time.”

Ruthe has broken a number of records over the last year, including Sir John Walker’s long-standing national mile record when he clocked 3min 48.88sec at an indoor meet in Boston in February.