THE LATEST in the aches, pains & eligibility departments:
Canada’s Moh Ahmed pulled out of the 5000 after aggravating a calf strain in the 10,000.
Favored Julien Alfred pulled a hammy in 100 final and withdrew from the 200.
Mutaz Barshim, in line for a fourth HJ gold, missed the meet with his foot injury.
A foot injury also kept hurdler Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico out.
Britain’s rising vault star Molly Caudery ruptured a ligament in her ankle while warming up for pole vault qualifying and had to withdraw.
Neeraj Chopra of India says his javelin defense was derailed by a back injury he kept secret before the competition.
Rushell Clayton withdrew from the 400H because of injury, too late to be replaced by Jamaica.
Spain’s Olympic champion Jordan Díaz missed the triple jump because of a patellar tendon injury. He tried one jump in qualifying before leaving.
Canadian gold medalist Evan Dunfee hopes for a walk double disappeared when he tore a hamstring in winning the 35K event.
Euro steeple champ Alice Finot of France pulled out because of a right calf injury.
Olympic vault champ Nina Kennedy tried to get ready in a rush after surgery in the spring, but ended up with another leg injury. “I can genuinely say I did everything I could, I gave it a red-hot crack and that in itself is a measure of success,” said the Aussie. Sport can be brutal, but injuries are just part of the journey, and that’s OK.”
Erriyon Knighton (see “Last Lap”) lost his case at CAS and got a 4-year suspension (see LL).
Canada’s defending decathlon champion Pierce LePage had to withdraw after 4 events because of back pain.
Alabama’s NCAA 400 champ, Samuel Ogazi, says that his hamstring was injured in Tokyo but he was forced to run by Nigerian team officials. He placed a non-advancing 5th in his heat in 45.97. “I told them, ‘I’m not prepared for this. I don’t think I could do anything if I go out there.’ They said, ‘Just go out there and give it your all.’ I didn’t warm up properly. I didn’t do anything properly.”
Megan Tapper withdrew with a grade 1B strain in a hamstring. Jamaican officials did not have time to replace her.
South Africa’s 9.94 teen find Bayanda Walaza was a last-minute withdrawal after injuring himself in Zürich.
Damien Warner finalized his decision to not contest the decathlon when he couldn’t get past his Achilles problems.
Diribe Welteji (see “Last Lap”) was removed just prior to the 1500 competition, after the AIU prevailed in its appeal to CAS that it enforce her provisional ban for failure to submit to drug testing.
An MRI confirmed that Kenya’s Julius Yego suffered a complete adductor longus tear during the javelin competition. He says that surgery will not be required.
Doping Bans…
4 years — Erriyon Knighton (United States, sprints);
2 years, 6 months — Raven Saunders (United States, shot). □
