Brit Jake Wightman, the upset world 1500m champion, will not be able to defend his title next month due to injury.
Wightman, 28, has not competed since spraining his right foot in a gym accident in late January.
He wrote Wednesday that he suffered an injury in February that resulted in additional setbacks.
“I’ve always felt as though time has been on my side to overcome my problems fully, however it has finally run out,” he wrote. “This means I’m sadly going to be unable to compete at Worlds which has been really gutting to come to terms with. Although I’m very disappointed not be able to try and defend my title, my focus has to be on getting my body rested and ready for 2024, to ensure I’ll be back performing at my best. The are some risks I could’ve taken to be on that Budapest start line, however the potential to jeopardise my Olympic year makes this the obvious decision.”
Wightman wrote that he expects to be pain-free by the end of August.
Last July, Wightman held off Olympic 1500m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway to win the world title in Eugene, Oregon. He did so while his dad, Geoff, provided race commentary on the stadium public address system.
Wightman was 10th at the Tokyo Games.
Ingebrigtsen is the fastest 1500m runner this year by 94 hundredths of a second over Spain’s Mohamed Katir. American Yared Nuguse is the third-fastest man in 2023.