By Miranda Mitchell, World-Track
EUGENE — Beijing Olympic 110 metres hurdles bronze medal winner David Oliver has been forced to withdraw from this week’s U.S. Championships and will miss the IAAF World Championships because of an injury.
Oliver was seen as the man to beat along with Terrence Trammell at the trials in Eugene, who was also geared to offer a challenge to Olympic champion and World record holder Dayron Robles in Berlin later this month.
“A strained left calf injury I suffered last week in training has forced me to withdraw from the championships this weekend,” Oliver wrote on his blog.
“It is responding well to treatment, but we just didn’t want to risk turning something like this into something chronic that could lead to a season or even worse career ending injury.
His withdrawal ruled him out of the U.S. team to the world championships, seeing that the rules stated that only the top three finishers in each event at the trials in addition to defending world champions earn their spot.
“This is an unfortunate development, I was really hoping to defend my title successfully, but no one is immune to getting bit by the injury bug. Going to World Championships was the main goal for this season,” he wrote.
