Tokyo Olympic marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir and Francine Niyonsaba will miss this month’s World Athletics Championships. Peres Jepchirchir will not start in Eugene with a hip injury, while Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba has a stress fracture.
Francine Niyonsaba, an Olympic silver medalist in the 800 meters in 2016, was signed to compete in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. The 29-year-old athlete from Burundi was banned from competing in her preferred distance of 800 meters in 2019 due to high testosterone levels.
“About a month ago, I had the onset of a stress fracture. Me and my team did everything possible to recover. Now I’m almost fine, but I couldn’t train during this whole period, so I’m not in a shape that can allow me to presents as I wanted”, wrote Francine Niyonsaba in social media.
Peres Jepchirchir is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner and Olympic gold medalist who competes mainly in road running competitions. She was the gold medallist at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 2016 and the gold medalist again at the championships in 2020.
“I am so disappointed but I prefer not to aggravate the injury as we still have another world event next year before my Olympic title defense at the Paris Games in 2024”, said the 28-year-old Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.
