Olympic gold medallist Yuriy Borzakovskiy will miss the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona due to a heel injury.
Russian 800m runner withdraws from European Championships
Olympic gold medallist Yuriy Borzakovskiy will miss the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona due to a heel injury.
The Russian, who won the 800 metres at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, was the favourite to take gold in the same event in Spain.
But team manager Valentin Maslakov has said that Borzakovskiy, whose campaign was due to start on Wednesday, has been forced to withdraw.
"Yuriy felt pain in his heel after the end of the national championships in Saransk," Maslakov said.
"He missed several training days but was still suffering from pain. Doctors said his feet ligament was inflamed. We decided to avoid risks and to miss the European Championships to recover completely."
Borzakovskiy will join fellow Russian star and women's pole vault world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva in missing the championships.
