Elaine Thompson-Herah, the two-time Olympic champion in the 100m and 200m, will miss the Paris Olympics due to an Achilles injury.
The 31-year-old Jamaican, who has won five Olympic gold medals, sustained the injury at the New York City Grand Prix on 9 June and had to be carried off the track.
Thompson-Herah, the only sprinter besides Usain Bolt to win multiple Olympic titles in both the 100m and 200m, was aiming to defend her 100m title after opting out of the Jamaica 200m trials.
She revealed that a “small tear on my Achilles tendon” has dashed her hopes of competing in her third Olympics.
“It’s a long road but I am willing to start over and keep working and to make full recovery and resume my track career,” Thompson-Herah wrote on Instagram.
“I am hurt and devastated to be missing the Olympics this year but at the end of the day it’s sports and my health comes first.”
Jamaicans have secured the past four Olympic gold medals in the women’s 100m.
Thompson-Herah clinched gold in both the 100m and 200m at the Rio Olympics in 2016 and successfully defended her titles in Tokyo five years later.
She also earned a fifth Olympic gold in Japan as a member of Jamaica’s 4x100m relay team.