Andre De Grasse withdraws from Canadian Track and Field Championships due to Covid
The Canadian star is among several athletes who will miss the trials but are expected to earn wild cards for the World Championships.
Athletics
Olympic Champion Andre De Grasse has been forced to put his season on hold.
The six-time Olympic medallist will not compete at this week’s Canadian track and field championships due to Covid.
"I'm obviously pretty disappointed not to be able to race at home in front of the Canadian fans in Langley," De Grasse said in a press statement.
"Hopefully I can get back to training pretty quickly and prepare for the rest of the season."
De Grasse was expected to race in front of his home fans for the first time since taking the 200m Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020.
Canada’s fastest man seems to have found his form after shrugging off a foot injury early in the season.
The three-time world medallist won the 100m at the Diamond League in Oslo on Thursday 16 June with a season best of 10.05 seconds.
He would have been the star attraction at the four-day championships starting 22 June, that also serve as trials for the World Championships set for 15-24 July in Oregon.
The 27-year-old alongside several other Canadian stars Olympic decathlon gold medallist Damian Warner, Olympic 5,000-metre silver medallist Mohammed Ahmed are among the late withdrawals.
They are expected to earn their spots to the worlds as Athletics Canada ‘has an injury/illness exemption that allows athletes to miss the national championships’ if they have attained the worlds qualification.
"Andre De Grasse, Damian Warner, and Mohammed Ahmed are out of the (national event) having received medical exemptions from our medical staff," Athletics Canada said in a statement to the Canadian Press "Athletics Canada expect all three to be healthy and ready by the time the world championships begin."