Carolina Kluft Out of World Championships

4 months ago 09th Jul 11:05

Carolina Kluft will not defend her heptathlon title at the World Championships next month after suffering from a hamstring injury.

The Swedish athlete was red hot favourite to reclaim gold in Berlin in August but now will have to face surgery and six months recovery.

Kluft exploded into heptathlon in 2003 when she won gold at the World Championships in Paris, a title she defended in Helsinki and then in Osaka in 2005 and 2007.

She became Olympic Champion in 2004 in Athens but she didn't defend her title in Beijing last year. Instead she went to China to compete in both the long jump and the triple jump.

But that didn't really work out for the athelete as she only managed to finish ninth in the long jump and failed to qualify for the triple jump final.

Despite not contesting the heptathlon at the Beijing Olympics Kluft stated that she had not ruled out a return to the multi event.

However earlier this year the twenty six year old hinted that she might concentrate on the long jump for the 2009 season. 

With Kluft out of the competition this leaves the field wide open and British athletes Kelly Sotherton and Jessica Ennis amongst the favourites to medal.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw