Canada has lost one of its top medal hopefuls for the Paris Olympics after world champion decathlete Pierce LePage pulled out with a back injury.
LePage made the announcement on his Instagram page Wednesday. He said he sustained a herniated disc in April and will need surgery on his back.
The 28-year-old from Whitby, Ont., said he and his team tried to get ready for the Olympics, and until recently he was still confident 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 said in a video. “But I can’t force my back to suddenly start working, no matter how hard I try.”
LePage said he tested his fitness at meets but “there was no power. Nothing was really going on.”
He said he made the difficult decision to withdraw rather than risk further injury.
“The last couple of months have been pretty draining, to say the least,” LePage said. “It’s really tough to see your dream kind of slip away from your hands.”
LePage was named to Canada’s Olympic athletics team, although he didn’t compete in last month’s trials in Montreal after receiving a medical exemption.
He won the world title last year in Budapest, Hungary, with a score of 8,909 for the second highest decathlon score ever at the world championships.
He also finished runner-up to Kevin Mayer of France at the 2022 worlds in Eugene, Ore.
LePage was expected to be part of a formidable one-two decathlon punch with Damian Warner in Paris. World Athletics ranks LePage is the top decathlete followed by Warner, who finished second in Budapest, at No. 2.
Warner, from London, Ont., heads to Paris as the reigning Olympic champion.