The reigning Stawell Gift Women's champion started her 2020 with some 'heartbreaking' injuries before COVID-19 rocked her health and her athletic and working life.

Loizou contracted the virus while working in a hospital in the final year of her nursing university studies, and says she is grateful to have mostly recovered.

She said it was "pretty crazy" to be working in a hospital as COVID-19 started to spread around the city, but then she caught the virus too.

"I got sick which was super scary so I had to leave my family and go and isolate in the city so I wasn't putting them at risk of getting sick," she said.

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"I was pretty sick and it kind of hit me pretty quickly and it was very scary.

"It attacked me worse in my throat, so I had horrendous pain and was super lethargic and I also had muscle wastage.

"It's been six months since I contracted the virus and I still have no sense of taste or smell, but apart from that I am pretty lucky side affect-wise.

"It was awful but it taught me a lot about how I want to nurse and how scary it can be to on the receiving end of health care and being really sick

"I am grateful for it in a way because it has taught me a lot about what I am going to take into my job."

After recovering from the virus, the 2019 winner had to start training to get ready to compete once again.

"It took a while to get back to full training, but a month later I was back, and back working hard again," she said.

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"I just really had to listen to my body and what I could cope with at the time and so we just slowly built up from that.

"My coach and I were super cautious because it's not like an injury or a sickness where you can look up advice and look for a similar thing because there wasn't any research, at the time, about getting a sprinter back from COVID."

The 22 year-old sprinter also had to deal with injury setbacks at the start of the year.

"It was New Year's Eve 2019 when I got injured which was pretty heartbreaking.

"It was an injury which made me completely change everything and it took probably four or five months to rehab, which was pretty tough but it taught me a lot about how I want to go about my running and that I really do want to do it."

After fighting through these battles, Loizou said she is excited to come back to defend her title at the 2021 Stawell Gift.

"I am looking forward to it and I am excited, I just really hope, however it is run, it comes out with a bang.

"Stawell has taken a few hits, which has been a bit tough and it's such an important event for Victoria and Australia and it's so historic.

"It's going to be really exciting and I can't wait to be back."

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