British long jump star Jazmin Sawyers has been ruled out of the Paris Olympics with a ruptured Achilles.
The European indoor champion, 29, suffered the serious injury to her take-off leg in training and has been forced to have surgery.
‘Obviously it’s devastating to miss the Olympics this summer, but this is sport,’ said Sawyers, who finished eighth in the long jump final at both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
‘There’s always the risk that something like this happens, and up to this point I’ve been so lucky.
‘I still have so many goals that I haven’t yet achieved in this sport and this is the biggest challenge I’ve faced so far in pursuit of those goals.
British long jump star Jazmin Sawyers has been ruled out of the Paris Olympics through injury
Sawyers confirmed her injury on Instagram and revealed she has already undergone surgery
Sawyers earned gold at the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul last March
‘But I still believe I can do it. It’s going to take a few more years than I thought, but I can still get there.
‘It’ll be a long road, but I’m ready to work hard, make a full recovery and resume my career.’
Sawyers won the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul last March with a personal best jump of exactly 7metres - the same distance which secured the gold medal for Germany’s Malaika Mihambo at the last Olympics.
The Brit, though, failed to reach the final at last year’s World Championships in Budapest after only managing to leap 6.41m in qualifying.