Peter Bol will miss the start of the Australian athletics season after suffering an “unfortunate injury”.
The Australian 800m star was set to race in Adelaide this weekend and then again next Thursday in the John Landy Mile at Melbourne’s Maurie Plant Meet, which can be seen live and free on 7plus.
But the man who fell just a matter of metres short of a medal at the Tokyo Olympics will now take a step back as he eyes optimal fitness for the Paris Games later this year.
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“Hey team. Due to an unfortunate injury, I have had to make the difficult decision to delay the start of my Australian season,” he wrote.
“I will not be participating in the upcoming races in Adelaide and Melbourne.
“I am still running and training but cannot push myself too hard at the moment.
“My priority at the moment is to focus on rehab and ensuring that my body is in optimal condition.”
Bol opted against revealing the injury but he is reportedly suffering from a back or hamstring-related issue.
The 29-year-old is targeting his favoured 800m event for the Paris Olympics, but had chosen to contest the longer event at Lakeside Stadium until succumbing to the injury.
The loaded mile field also includes former 1500m world champ Jake Wightman from Britain, Kenyan Eliud Kipsang, and fellow Australians Stewart McSweyn, Cameron Myers and Jye Edwards.
Bol has not raced in Australia since his provisional doping ban for an elevated level of EPO was lifted in February last year, after his reading was found to be atypical.
A Sport Integrity Australia investigation was wound up in July, with Bol saying it was “a dream come true”, having continued to vehemently declare his innocence.
He was then eliminated in the 800m heats at the world championships in Budapest in August.
Meantime, Aussie 100m sprint star Rohan Browning has taken a fresh step towards a shift in his career, locking himself into the 200m race at the Maurie Plant.
The 26-year-old has focused almost entirely on the shorter distance as a professional to date, but he now has one eye on the future as he returns to the 200m event at the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne on February 15.
Browning made a cameo appearance in the distance at last year’s meet, finishing second to the world’s fastest man Fred Kerley in 20.71 seconds.
That was the Aussie’s first 200m race since January 2021.
The 2024 race, though, could now kick off an extended stay in the 200m as he looks to add it to his program at future major championships.
“I think the 200m is a really exciting opportunity because it gets me strong and fit, and the challenge has me feeling grateful for the 100m,” Browning said.
“It will be a really fun challenge and a really good novelty.”
The 200m event is named in honour of one of the most iconic figures in Australian Olympic history, which Browning said he doesn’t take for granted.
“I’m really glad that the event is named after Peter Norman because he was really influential in the sport,” Browning said.
“He was such a revered athlete and it will be great to be a part of that. I think that also takes on a special aura this year because of the Olympics, and I think that hopefully leads to another sell-out crowd and I have a lot of faith that Melbourne will deliver.”
Browning is joined in the 200m field by Asian champion Towa Uzawa, whose personal best is nearly five tenths faster than the Aussie’s quickest time, and Yudai Nishi.
Australian young gun Calab Law returns two years after winning the race, while 16-year-old rising star Gout Gout will also get the chance to test himself.
The Peter Norman Memorial 200m will cap off the night’s action, with the 100m taking place earlier in the program as Browning competes against Olympic veteran Ryota Yamagata.
“Japan has a really strong stable of sprinters across the 100m and the 200m,” Browning said.
“It would be great to have that quality of competition, but there are a lot of Australians who are up and coming and are running really well too, so I think it will be fiercely contested.
“I’m pretty untested in the 200m but I’ll still be looking to win.”