Two-time Olympic athlete Kim Mickle will miss the remainder of the inaugural AFLW season with Fremantle Dockers because of a knee injury.
Mickle, a world championships silver medallist in the javelin, sustained the injury in the second quarter of Sunday’s AFLW match against Brisbane Lions at Fremantle Oval.
Scans revealed she ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament in what was her first appearance for the Dockers in the AFLW.
She was unavailable for the Dockers’ historic first-round match the previous weekend because of a hip injury.
“The results of the scans were quite a shock,” Mickle said.
“I didn’t expect this to be a major injury at all, but you win some and you lose some, and now I just want to look ahead to what my options are and determine a course of action for my recovery.”
Mickle is no stranger to dealing with injury setbacks, as her track and field career has been blighted by stints on the sideline.
She dislocated her right shoulder during the qualifying round at last year’s Rio Olympics and needed a reconstruction only 11 months after having undergone the same procedure.
The Rio injury was particularly stressful for Mickle, who was put under sedation after being sent to hospital before the shoulder was finally put back in after three hours.
Mickle had needed surgery in 2015 when she dislocated her shoulder during a gym training session in the build-up to the Beijing world championships where she could not progress to the final after being a medal contender.
The now 32-year-old has enjoyed international success in track and field, highlighted by winning silver at the 2013 world titles in Moscow.
She won Commonwealth Games gold the following year in Glasgow.
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