Many would have treated a cruciate ligament injury a year out from the Commonwealth Games as a killer blow. Not Malin Wilson.
The Ullapool judoka suffered the injury in competition in November last year and it could have been fatal to her chances of qualifying for the Games.
But having a structure around her and a reliable support network, her comeback was not only achieved but smashed.
Wilson returned to international competition at the European Cup in Winterthur this month and came away with a bronze medal.
She heads into Birmingham with a renewed focus and is determined to win a medal, boosted by the resilience of what she has overcome.
“I injured it in a final; it was a strange movement from the girl I was fighting and I think it snapped there,” said Wilson. “The next couple of days it was OK. We were at training and moving around lightly to see what did and didn’t hurt and it completely snapped. It was very painful, I’m not going to lie.
“We tried to not look at the time-frame and do everything as well as we could. In the last couple of months it did feel like it was getting close quite quickly, but we did everything well and I haven’t had any problems.
Name: Malin Wilson
D.O.B: 25/10/94
Home town: Ullapool
Previous CG experience: none
Event(s): Judo (57kg category)
“I don’t think I had or needed specific motivation. My job is what it is, my life is what it is, and that’s judo. Everything I do is to be able to compete.
“My big picture goal is having an Olympic medal – that’s always the header of all my goals. I’ve obviously got other goals now, like to have a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games.
“The hospital saw us the following day, did all the scans and got the results the same day. The guy said it had snapped. Between tears, we went and sat at a cafe and started making plans of what we were going to do, what we were going to train, objectives technically and mentally.
“I had horrible luck with getting injured but from the day after, I couldn’t have had better luck. I couldn’t have had a better support system, better help.”
Her journey started in the north-west of Scotland in Ullapool, in a family that had a keen interest in judo.
Training would be more than an hour away with Inverness club Highland Budokan and once Wilson got a taste of competitive judo, the die was cast.
“When I was old enough to be taken to judo, it was a good hour-and-15-minutes away, so he said no. When my youngest sister was older and decided she wanted to try, there was me, her and him, so it was worthwhile going to a training session even if it was far away. From then on I only looked to do more.
“It all comes down to having it clear what you want. You can have all the support and facilities in the world but if it’s not something you want more than anyone else, you just go in a straight line.”
Since 2019, Wilson has been based in the Spanish capital Madrid, where she has worked under the stewardship of Javi Delgado.
It could have been a drastic change for some but, for the 27-year-old, it brought her a feeling she had not felt before.
“I’ve been in Madrid for almost three years now. I always saw a relationship between a player and a coach, in this case Sally Conway and Billy Cusack.
“I saw the relationship they had and how specific and focused it was. Billy knows Sally’s judo inside out and Sally knows her judo inside out. They make a really good team.
“I thought I’d love to have that as a coach but everybody is different. I met a coach in Spain, as I was fighting for his team in a team judo tournament. I would start training with them and the way he would coach, it just clicked.
“I fell in love with the people in his club and the area I now live in. It felt like home and I hadn’t felt like that, possibly ever. I always thought I was at home but I never realised what it was to feel at home. It’s two completely different things.”
As she has previously stated, a gold medal is in her sights this summer. The judo gets under way in Coventry on Monday and, after what she has achieved just to get here, representing Scotland on the biggest stage will be huge.
“It will mean the biggest smile. In a word, it’d be pride. I would be proud for me and all the people that support me in Scotland. For Judo Scotland, for Team Scotland and then for all people where I call home.”
