Rio Olympic high jump champion Derek Drouin will not compete this weekend at the Canadian track and field championships due to injury. His agent, Ray Flynn, told CBC Sports that Drouin has been dealing with a minor Achilles tendon issue.
It’s unclear if the 27-year-old will compete at track and field worlds Aug. 5-13 in London, England.
Drouin last competed on June 15 at the Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway, where the native of Sarnia, Ont., tied for third with a jump of 2.25 metres before missing all three attempts at 2.29.
Drouin, with a personal best leap of 2.40, failed to clear the bar at 2.20 in May at a Diamond League meet in Shanghai, finishing the event without a successful attempt.
He spent much of late May and early June trying to get dialed in with his approach and raising the bar, literally, at practice “to get me ready for a championship season and hopefully a new personal best.”
In April, Drouin set a world record with a jump of 2.28 in the high jump portion of the Sam Adams Combined Events Invitational decathlon in Santa Barbara, Calif., and is aiming to compete for Canada in decathlon at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
At the end of the month, the six-foot-five jumper won a fourth consecutive Drake Relays title, matching the world qualifying standard of 2.30.
After capturing a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics, Drouin won Canada’s first gold in high jump since Duncan McNaughton in 1932 last August in Rio, tying his season best jump in the process by clearing 2.38.
Drouin then tried to break the Olympic record of 2.39 but missed in his single attempt at 2.40. He held up the Canadian flag, tearing up as he faced his parents and sisters in the stands.
In 2015, Drouin jumped 2.34 in Beijing to win at the world championships after his victorious jump of 2.37 at the Pan Am Games in Toronto.
