Estonian hurdler Rasmus Mägi withdraws from world championships in Tokyo
Estonian hurdler Rasmus Mägi has been forced to withdraw from this year's athletics world championship taking place in Tokyo next month, citing insufficient preparation following injury.
A 400 meter hurdles specialist who placed seventh in the final of that event at the Paris Olympics last summer and is a two-time World Championships finalist, plus domestic record holder, has not competed at all this season.
"Preparation has not succeeded according to my standards, and in a situation where I am not at the level of my best days, participation in the World Championships is out of the question in my case," Mägi explained. "Recovery from the foot problem has turned out to take longer than expected, so I consider complete healing more important than competing right now."
Tokyo would have been Mägi's sixth World Championships. His best result to date came from the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, where he finished seventh in the final.
The Tokyo World Championships take place September 13 to 21.
The final lineup of Team Estonia will be announced next week. So far, marathon runners Tiidrek Nurme and Leonid Latsepov and decathletes Johannes Erm and Janek Õiglane are confirmed.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Maarja Värv
