Katarina Johnson-Thompson insists this summer’s injury woes have served to make her stronger as she steps up her training in preparation for next season’s World Championships in Beijing.
The 21-year-old heptathlete enjoyed enormous success in the first half of 2014, winning world indoor long jump silver in March before going on to set a number of personal bests, including posting a world-leading heptathlon score at the Hypo-Meeting in Gotzis in June.
A fortnight before the start of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow she then set a new long jump personal best, leaping to 6.92m at the Diamond League meeting at Hampden Park.
However there would be no return to the stadium for the Games as a stress fracture in her left foot ruled her out of competing, with the injury also seeing her sit out the European Championships in Zurich.
It was a difficult experience for Johnson-Thompson but one which she insists she has learned from.
And with August’s World Athletics Championships in Beijing next on the horizon, Johnson-Thompson is intent on improving on her fifth-place finish from 2013.
"It was all too good to be true. I was in the shape of my life, but if you don't go through something like this, you don't realise how much you want it,” she told BBC Sport.
"All those PBs I was getting, they were all sort of taken for granted. I should have been happy about being number one in the world, but I was keeping it all contained because all I wanted to do was win gold in Glasgow.
"The World Championships will be my main priority next season. I'm so excited at the thought of competing in the Bird's Nest. Beijing 2008 was the first Olympics I remember, watching Usain Bolt run the 200m.
"I can already feel myself putting a lot more into training than I used to at this time of year. I'm a few weeks into winter training and I'm still enjoying it.
"I just want to do the exact same thing I did last season, but not get injured. I wouldn't change anything. The injury was just unfortunate."
© Sportsbeat 2014