Olympic and World 400-metre hurdles gold medallist Melaine Walker is hoping to recover fully from Achilles Tendonitis in both legs ahead the start of the European Diamond League season next month.

The Stephen Francis-coached athlete opened her 2010 season at the third University of Technology Track and Field Classic on Saturday in rainy conditions, posting a creditable 52.84 seconds for second position in the 400m.

“I’ve been battling a terrible injury and hopefully by the grace of God it will go away, but I’m proud of myself today (Saturday), seeing that I was able to finish the race and not feel as bad as I usually feel in practice,” Walker told the Observer.

“I have Achilles Tendonitis in both legs and it’s been really rough, but I’m hanging in there and I’m trying with everything that I have to make this season be as best as I can make it be,” she added.

“This is my first race of the season, that goes to show you how much pool work I’ve been doing, how many times I’ve been on and off the track, but today I came out here and ended up finishing my race, not feeling as much pain, so I hope that it will stay like this or get better,” Walker reasoned.

Walker established herself as the second fastest female 400m hurdler of all time at last summer’s Berlin World Championships by clocking a career best 52.42 seconds to win the final.

“Hopefully by the season progress, I will get better and my injury will go away,” the hurdler said, indicating that she will be taking this season one race at a time.

“Right now I’m just trying to go through the motions, trying to run productive races and have a decent season because next year again is going to be the World Championships and obviously I have this injury now and don’t know how long it’s going to last, so I kind of have to go easy on it,” she added.