West Australian Olympic champion Nina Kennedy aiming to return for World Championships in September

West Australian Olympic champion Nina Kennedy has declared she is still aiming to be fit in time for September’s World Championships, despite a serious hamstring injury. Kennedy is still sporting a significant scar on the back of her left leg, six weeks on from major hamstring tendon surgery that kept her out of jumping in the blockbuster National Championships in Perth last month. But the procedure — which comes at the start of a new Olympic cycle — will set her up for the next three years and the runway to the Los Angeles Olympics, according to the restless Kennedy, who also admits she battles to sit still while she is grounded. “It’s going really well. It’s six weeks post-surgery now, so we are still looking to compete at the World Championships in September, if everything goes right,” she said. While the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo from September 13 are firmly in her sights, there won’t be any risks taken. The hamstring was a lingering issue for Kennedy since returning to training in January after a post-Olympics breather. She went under the knife in a move to ensure the health of one of her most important weapons — her take-off leg. “We are really just focusing on getting this thing properly rehabbed so I can have longevity in my career,” Kennedy said. “I am not jumping just yet, but we are running, we’re just getting back into normal training, so some plyometrics, some running. “We really are guided by how this (hamstring) responds, so getting this right is the No.1 priority. “It is my takeoff leg as well, so longevity is the focus right now.” Kennedy had a similar procedure to Fremantle Dockers midfielder Hayden Young, who could miss the rest of the AFL season with a tear. Young revealed this week he felt confident going in for the operation knowing Kennedy had already been through the same thing. “One of our sports scientists at our club works with Nina as well, and spoke to me before I went in for my surgery and said, ‘I’ve worked with Nina and this is what she’s gone through’,” he said on 96FM. “She went ahead with the surgery, so that gave me a lot of confidence going into the surgery - that obviously she’s done it and it seems to be going really well for her. “So yeah, I might be able speak to her down the track and see how she’s going.” The pole vault competitions on the Diamond League circuit begin with this weekend’s meet in Doha from Saturday. The tour then heads to Europe for all of June, July and August. Kennedy will be at home in Perth and admits she struggles to watch on from afar. “Of course I do, I hate sitting still and I hate not competing. I was meant to go off to the first Diamond Leagues of the season on Monday to start competing, so to watch the girls there I am getting massive FOMO,” she said. “I’m normally in Europe at this time of the year. I love WA, I get down south a lot, I’m just enjoying it. “But I always kind of think, if there is a year to be injured it’s this year, lucky it wasn’t last year.” While a home in Olympics in Brisbane feels a long way away, the 28-year-old said she hated the thought of the Los Angeles games being her final major competition. “You do allow yourself, your thoughts, to go there (to Brisbane),” she said. “When I think that LA might be my last competition, that scares me, that’s only three years away. “I will definitely continue on if I feel like I haven’t reached my potential by then.”