LIKE the mythical phoenix which rises from the ash, world 100-metre hurdles champion Brigitte Foster-Hylton has recovered from another career-threatening injury and is back in training.

The affable Foster-Hylton pulled up during the Women’s 100 metres at the UTech Track and Field Classic on April 17 and has been out of action since.

After undergoing major surgery on a total hamstring avulsion of her left leg and several months of rehabilitative work, the national record-holder returned to training four weeks ago.

“Before, everything seemed so dim, but now, I’m starting to get the light back,” Foster-Hylton told the Observer minutes after early morning training yesterday.

“I’m feeling better every week,” she said. “Every week I get stronger and I get fitter. My leg is responding better to the training and as a result, my confidence is improving.”

Her injury came only months after claiming the 2009 world title in Berlin, Germany in August.

“When it happened, I didn’t think it was so serious because I got up and I was walking. I was in pain, but I thought it was just a cramp,” she explained.

“It wasn’t until a week later I had an MRI done and it showed that it was really serious,” she explained.

The injury happened less than three years after a similar damage and subsequent surgery on her right leg, in 2007. After that operation, the former STETHS student told the Observer she felt she might never run again.

“It was really devastating,” Foster-Hylton said of this year’s mishap. “(Because) I’ve had this kind of injury before and I knew the emotional and mental stress that I went through and I wasn’t prepared to go through that again.

“It really took me a while to grasp that I really had to go through this kind of agony once more,” she added.

However, that earlier experience also made her aware that she could bounce back from such a setback.

“I knew that once I put in the work and I have the support, I definitely will make it back,” she said. “I knew that it was just going to take hard work.”

Though finally copping a coveted gold at a global event in Berlin after more than a decade of trying, Foster-Hylton told the Observer that retiring after April’s injury was not something she considered.

“I love my sport. I love what I do. I really enjoy training and I have short-term goals and long-term goals and yes, one of my goals was to win a global medal, but I also had time goals — times I really wanted to run which I haven’t run yet.”

Foster-Hylton, who set the Jamaican record of 12.45 seconds in her pet event in Oregon in 2003, says she aims to lower her PR, and that is another reason she chose to continue. Further, there was motivation from MVP Club’s head coach Stephen Francis.

“I want to go faster than I’ve gone before and my coach (Francis) especially just wouldn’t let me quit,” she said.

“There were days when it just seemed so hopeless, like I was just not going to make it back… he believes… that I have a lot to offer and based on my last season where I left off, he is ensuring that I do whatever it takes to make it back to the top,” Foster-Hylton stated.

There is another World Championships less than a year away — the 2011 event in Daegu, South Korea — but the Jamaican star says she is not putting herself under undue pressure.

“I’m taking it one day at a time. I’m enjoying my progress right now. I love how my training is going; I’m getting fitter, stronger and I’m just having fun and being happy to run and I know I’m going to be competitive,” she said.

She said she will not be focusing on defending her title, but on getting back to the top and doing good times.

She still faces a few challenges with the scar tissue from her latest surgery, but she expects that within another month she will be back to normal.