Olympic 400-metre champion Cathy Freeman remains hopeful of running in her specialty race at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England despite being weeks away from fully recovering from a thigh injury.

Australian coach Keith Connor said on Wednesday that a scan taken of Freeman’s injury on Tuesday show she is still three weeks away from the “crucial period” of her recovery and that she is not fully fit.

Freeman’s coach Peter Fortune said that despite the setback, the world and Olympic champion was still pursuing a place in individual races at the Manchester Games in late July and early August.

“It is a concern that time is against us a little bit, I’ll have to admit that but we’re just pushing on,” said Fortune. “Our main priority is to get the leg right. She wants to get herself right and so we’re not trying to get too caught up with dates and ultimatums and things like that.”

Freeman, who took a break of more than a year after the Sydney Olympics, has only qualified for the 1,600-metre relay team for the Commonwealth Games. She pulled out of the selection trials in Brisbane last month due to the injury.

She will earn a place in the individual 200 and 400 metres if she can achieve a qualifying time by mid-July.

Connor said he wasn’t concerned by the latest news. “The doctor told me she can do weights, she can put loading on the leg but he’s not ready to let her go out and pound away at this time,” Connor said.

“In three weeks when she has another scan we’ll know a lot more - that will be the most crucial period. Until then there’s no point in speculating on what might happen.”