Canadian world champion will miss Olympic Games due to injury
Pierce LePage, a world champion decathlete, has pulled out of the Paris Olympics with a back issue, eliminating one of Canada’s main medal hopes.
LePage made the announcement on his Instagram page on Wednesday. He stated he suffered a herniated disc in April and will need back surgery.
The 28-year-old from Whitby, Ont., said he and his team worked hard to prepare for the Olympics, and until recently, he was convinced he would be able to compete.
“To the very end, to the last week or so, I though I was going to push through and be able to do it,” LePage was recorded saying. “But I can’t force my back to suddenly start working, no matter how hard I try.”
LePage claimed he tested his fitness at meets, but “there was no power.” “Nothing was really happening.”
He explained that he made the difficult decision to withdraw rather than risk further injuries.
“The last couple of months have been pretty draining, to say the least,” LePage told the crowd. “It’s really tough to see your dream kind of slip away from your hands.”
LePage was nominated to Canada’s Olympic athletics squad, but he did not compete in the trials held in Montreal last month due to a medical exemption.
He won the global title last year in Budapest, Hungary, with a score of 8,909, the second highest decathlon score ever recorded in the world championships.
He also finished second to Kevin Mayer of France at the 2022 Worlds in Eugene, Oregon.
LePage was expected to make a deadly one-two decathlon punch with Damian Warner in Paris. LePage is the top decathlete in the World Athletics rankings, followed by Warner, who finished second in Budapest.
Warner, the defending Olympic champion from London, Ont., will travel to Paris.
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