FILE - Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim celebrates after winning the men’s high jump final at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)
Three-time high jump champion Mutaz Barshim withdraws from worlds with foot injury
TOKYO (AP) 鈥 Three-time high jump world champion Mutaz Barshim has ruled himself out of the world athletics championships that open Saturday in Japan after failing to recover from a long-term foot injury.
FILE - Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim celebrates after winning the men’s high jump final at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)
TOKYO (AP) 鈥 Three-time high jump world champion Mutaz Barshim has ruled himself out of the world athletics championships that open Saturday in Japan after failing to recover from a long-term foot injury.
The worlds would have marked his return to Japan where Barshim with Italy鈥檚 Gianmarco Tamberi at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
鈥淚 was planning to make Tokyo my last world championship but unfortunately my foot hasn鈥檛 healed in time,鈥 the 34-year-old Qatari said on Instagram on Friday. 鈥淚鈥檝e given it my all, but we can鈥檛 force nature and must stay patient to recover.鈥
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Barshim says he has been battling the problem since April.
Barshim took bronze at the Paris Olympics last year after winning the gold at the world championships in 2017, 鈥19 and 鈥22.
He has a personal best of 2.43 meters, second only to all-time record-holder Javier Sotomayor.
鈥淒on鈥檛 feel sorry for me not jumping,鈥 he said. 鈥淔eel sorry for high jumping not having me.鈥
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