Jamaican sprint star Kishane Thompson, the man who has dominated the 100m circuit this season, will be forced to sit out key Diamond League clashes after suffering a shin injury.
The 22-year-old lit up the track in June when he clocked a blistering 9.75 seconds at the Jamaican trials, the fastest time in the world this year and good enough to place him among the top six sprinters in history. His form only strengthened days ago in Poland, where he defeated reigning Olympic champion Noah Lyles with a joint meet-record of 9.87 seconds.
That showdown was meant to set the stage for an eagerly anticipated rematch in Lausanne on Wednesday, their last head-to-head before next month’s World Championships in Tokyo. Instead, organisers confirmed Thompson’s withdrawal, citing persistent shin discomfort.
The injury not only rules him out of Lausanne but also the Zurich leg of the Diamond League at the end of August, stripping fans of two marquee face-offs between the sport’s biggest names.
Thompson’s absence adds a new layer of intrigue to the World Championships narrative. Last year, he narrowly lost Olympic gold to Lyles by five-thousandths of a second — a result that still fuels debate. This season, however, Thompson has looked sharper, hungrier, and better prepared to rewrite that script.
Now, the only question is whether the injury is a minor hiccup or a serious roadblock on his path to the global crown. Either way, the sprint world will be watching closely.
