LONDON — More bad news for Canada at the world track and field championships.
Derek Drouin, the reigning world and Olympic champion in high jump, announced he was withdrawing with an Achilles tendon injury.
"I knew I was dealing with an injury that would make my chances of competing come down to the wire," Drouin said in a statement. "My support team did everything they could to give my Achilles time to heal, we didn't want to rush back. We just ran out of time.
"I've been progressing, but wasn't able to get into championship level shape that I expect of myself."
The news comes after three-time Olympic medallist Andre De Grasse was forced to pull out with a torn hamstring earlier this week.
Drouin's Achilles tendon injury kept the 27-year-old out of the Canadian championships last month in Ottawa, and he'd been able to do little jumping off the injured foot in the weeks since.
"We really thought we'd be able to get him healthy in time," Athletics Canada team coach Jeff Huntoon said. "The integrated support team has been tireless in their efforts in the recovery process and we've made progress.
"But we just ran out of time to get him healthy enough to compete in London."
Drouin, from Corunna, Ont., won world gold in 2015 in Beijing, then followed it up with Olympic gold last summer in Rio.
Canada was hoping to improve on the record eight medals the team won at the world championships two years ago in Beijing.
Drouin's best height this season is 2.28 metres. His Canadian record is 2.40. He's also been training for the decathlon, with his sights set on earning a spot on the 2018 Commonwealth Games in that event, and in April, his jump of 2.28 — as part of a decathlon at the Sam Adams Combined Event Invitational — was a world's best jump for the 10-discipline event.
The Canadian Press