Harry is AA ok now after a little help from acupuncture
![](https://static.standard.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2012/01/03/09/Harry-Aikines415.jpg?crop=8:5,smart&quality=75&auto=webp&width=1000)
The Eurostar boasts a journey time from King's Cross to Paris of just two hours and 15 minutes but the Gare du Nord in the French capital could not come soon enough for sprinter Harry Aikines-Aryeetey.
The 22-year-old sprinter, part of Great Britain's 32-strong team for the European Athletics Indoor Championships, has spent much of the past two weeks receiving medical treatment for a hamstring injury.
After arriving for his first visit to Paris, he avoided the obvious tourist attractions and instead went straight to his physio and the acupuncture table, a move which he says holds the key to him staying in one piece at the championships, which get under way tomorrow.
"I'm a very muscly athlete so I get quite tight," said the Londoner, who is known as Harry AA. "It's cold as well at the moment, which doesn't help and the acupuncture enables the muscles to relax.
"It's not just the hamstring but my back was killing me on the train and the acupuncture eases that. The needle gets deeper than any massage can, it relieves the pressure and, although I feel a bit like an old man straight afterwards, after warming up I'm as good as new. It's incredible."
Aikines-Aryeetey, who was born and brought up in Carshalton, is not exactly in prime shape for the European Indoors. At the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham a fortnight ago, he ended up slumped on the track holding his hamstring. His first thoughts were that he had suffered a tear and, as a precaution, he was taken away in a wheelchair.
An MRI scan showed the injury was not as bad as first thought and a combination of ultrasound, massage, acupuncture, leg icing and water recovery have got him in sufficiently good shape for Paris. "We tried everything imaginable and, put it this way, I've not really had a social life to talk about for the last week or two," he said.
"Everyone has done an amazing job getting me back together. It's easy to coach someone when they're fully fit and flying but my coach has done an amazing job when that has clearly not been the case for me of late."
Jessica Ennis, nursing her own ankle injury, opted not to compete this weekend rather than risk a more serious injury. Aikines-Aryeetey has taken the opposite approach despite admitting he has doubts, bearing in mind last year when he missed the outdoor season with another hamstring injury.
Read More
"What happened last year was a lot more serious," he said. "If you're going to have a hamstring injury, what I did in Birmingham was about the best thing you can have. I feel like I've healed but, of course, there's always a worry that it won't hold up over three rounds. Only time will tell but I feel confident."
On paper, Aikines-Aryeetey will not upset race favourite and team-mate Dwain Chambers, who is the fastest European indoors this season.
Aikines-Aryeetey, meanwhile, is only the ninth quickest from the continent over the 60metres dash in 2011 with a time of 6.64sec but, with a personal best of 6.55sec, the former world junior champion is not unduly concerned.
"Dwain is certainly the guy to beat and he has an excellent record both indoors and outdoors," he added. "But you have to remember that at the start of the season I hadn't run for 11 months. It was like I was learning to run again.People shouldn't pay too much attention to my times. I finished second to Dwain at the European Indoors trials and felt I could have run better.
"Just look at Christophe Lemaitre [the French sprinter who will not be competing this weekend]. He was the double European champion last season and had managed a best this year over the 60m of something like 6.67sec until last week when he blitzed that. I feel like I can do the same."
As well as Chambers, Aikines-Aryeetey will be vying for Team GB honours with training partner Joel Fearon but whatever happens in France is little more than a stepping stone for the rest of his season. Aikines-Aryeetey added: "The outdoors is the main thing. No one remembers the indoors. So this is all in preparation for later in the year."
His outdoor ambitions are clear in 2011 - to qualify for the 100m final at the World Championships in South Korea but he admits he needs to smash his personal best of 10.10sec to achieve that. Never lacking for confidence, the world championship 4x100m bronze medalist believes he can achieve that. "The idea is to make that final and to run sub-10 seconds," he said.
"I know some people might not think it's possible."
THE TIMETABLE
Saturday
9am Women's 60m heats (B Wilson, J Williams)
9.30 Men's 60m heats (H Aikines-Aryeetey, D Chambers, J Fearon)
1.30pm Men's high jump final (R Grabarz, T Parsons)
2.20 Women's 800m s-finals (J Meadows, M Okoro)
2.40 Men's 800m s-finals (A Osagie, J Thomas)
3.10/3.30 60m s-finals
3.50 Men's 3000m (A Baddeley, M Farah)
4.45 Men's 400m final (R Buck, N Levine, R Strachan)
Sunday
2.15pm Women's 3000m final (H Clitheroe)
2.45 Men's 800m final
3.0 Women's 800m final
3.40 Women's 60m final
3.55 Men's 60m final
4.15 Women's 4x400m relay final
4.40 Men's 4x400m relay final
For tickets or more information about the Aviva London Grand Prix, at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre August 5-6, go to uka.org.uk/aviva-series or phone 08000 556 056