Usain Bolt’s main 100m rival Andre De Grasse out injured of world championships

IT was one of the showdowns of last year’s Olympics but Usain Bolt won’t face Andre De Grasse at the world championships — in a major boost to the Jamaican’s hopes of a golden farewell.

Usain Bolt jokes with Canada's Andre De Grasse during the Rio 2016 200m semi-finals.

ANDRE De Grasse won’t get a chance to spoil Usain Bolt’s international finale, with a hamstring injury forcing him to pull out of the world athletics championships.

The Canadian was expected to be Bolt’s main rival for his 100m crown but he suffered a grade two strain to his right hamstring in training on Monday and will miss the rest of the season.

Athletics Canada issued a statement late on Wednesday saying the 22-year-old De Grasse made the decision to withdraw from the meet after a second medical examination.

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“The entire year this 100 metre race in London was my focus,” De Grasse said in the statement.

“I am really in the best shape of my life and was looking forward to competing against the best in the world.

“To not have this opportunity is unimaginable to me but it is the reality I am now faced with.” De Grasse was a leading contender in the 100m and 200m events at the worlds, which start Friday in London.

He recorded the fastest time of the year, albeit a strongly wind-assisted 9.69sec in Stockholm in June.

Canadian sprint star Andre De Grasse.

At the 2016 Olympics in Rio, De Grasse won bronze in the 100m -- behind Bolt and American Justin Gatlin -- and took silver in the 200m, after pushing Bolt all the way in the semi-finals.

Athletics Canada head coach Glenroy Gilbert said the timing was terrible for De Grasse.

“I know he really wanted to make a mark here,” Gilbert said.

De Grasse’s absence from the 100m unquestionably boosts Bolt’s chances of adding an eighth individual world championships gold to his incredible tally in his final solo race on Saturday.

Originally published as Usain Bolt’s main 100m rival Andre De Grasse out injured of world championships