麻豆影视

Canadian superstar sprinter Andre De Grasse has suffered an injury that will keep him from competing against Usain Bolt at the world championships in London on Friday.

De Grasse, who won a silver and a bronze medal at the Olympic Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro last year, suffered a hamstring injury Monday while training in Jamaica, according to his agent, Paul Doyle.

鈥淗e is definitely devastated. I don鈥檛 think it has really set in with him, the disappointment. He鈥檚 an upbeat guy, so he remains upbeat, but I think it is wearing on him,鈥� Doyle told 麻豆影视 Channel from London.

He said De Grasse was on the final rep of a starting block training session when the injury occurred.

鈥淚 was actually starting my trip to London and got a call from Andre with the bad news,鈥� Doyle said. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 a pleasant call to be receiving.鈥�

MRI results revealed on Wednesday that the injury was worse than initially thought, and will require four to six weeks to recover, according to Doyle.

The rising star recently ran the 100 metres in 9.69 seconds with the wind at his back, and fans were excitedly anticipating Friday鈥檚 race against Bolt, who retires this year.

鈥淎ndre has anticipated this race the entire year. It has been his focus this year, matching up against Usain Bolt,鈥� Doyle said.

De Grasse posted a statement on Facebook Wednesday in which he said that, while injuries are 鈥減art of the sport,鈥� the timing of this one is 鈥渆specially unfortunate.鈥�

鈥淲hile I鈥檓 in the best shape of my life and extremely disappointed that I will not have the chance to compete for my country in London, I can't forget or be ungrateful for the successes that I've been blessed with up to this point in my career,鈥� he wrote.

鈥淲hen he gets to watch these guys race on Friday and Saturday it is going to be tough on him. He is a young guy, and he will do much better in the future. It is one small blip in the scope of his career,鈥� Doyle said. 鈥淚 see him as the future of sprinting for sure.鈥�

Glenroy Gilbert, Athletics Canada Head Coach, said in a statement that 鈥渙bviously, the timing is terrible.鈥� 鈥淎s a team the focus doesn鈥檛 change, we need to be ready to compete starting Friday,鈥� Gilbert added.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been talking about the depth of the program,鈥� Gilbert went on. 鈥淣ow is a chance for some of our other stars to shine, and have some of our up and coming athletes step up.鈥�

De Grasse vowed to come back 鈥渟tronger and faster than ever鈥� and said the focus now should be on the 鈥渧ery strong team鈥� that Canada is sending to London.