Yohan Blake has lost his battle to be fit for next month’s World Championships.
The defending 100m world champion is still struggling with a hamstring injury he sustained in April.
Blake’s injury meant he was unable to qualify for the 200m at the Jamaican trials last month. As world champion over the shorter distance, he had already been guaranteed a place at the Worlds in Moscow.
His agent, Cubie Seegobin, admitted Blake, who suffered the hamstring injury at the Utech Classic in Jamaica, was still short of fitness.
“The decision was made after continual assessment and re-evaluations since his withdrawal from the Jamaican Senior Championships,” said Seegobin.
“Yohan has made vast improvement, although the injury sustained in April has prevented him from attaining the necessary fitness levels that we have grown accustomed to seeing in his competition performances.”
Blake’s announcement is a second major blow to World Championship organisers in the past 24 hours, following the withdrawal of 800m world record holder and Olympic champion David Rudisha.
It follows reports that just 45,000 seats have been sold at the Luzhniki Stadium for the entire championships just a month before the nine-day event begins.
