Canadian athletes Andre De Grasse, Pierce LePage, Aaron Brown and Jerome Blake withdrew from the Commonwealth Games on Tuesday.
All four have just finished at the World Athletics Championships, where De Grasse, Brown and Blake made up three-quarters of the 4x100m gold relay squad, while LePage took silver in the decathlon.
The athletes would have faced a tight turnaround, competing at the worlds in Oregon over the weekend just before the Commonwealth opening ceremony on Thursday in Birmingham, England.
Athletics Canada said in a statement that the decision was made with an eye to the future.
“These athletes have had a challenging world championships in hot conditions and unfortunately need to withdraw from the 2022 Commonwealth Games to recover and prepare properly for the rest of the season.”
De Grasse, the 27-year-old from Markham, Ont., anchored the gold relay team after failing to make the final of the 100m and withdrawing from the 200m after a bout with COVID-19.
LOOK | Canada sweeps to 4x100m relay gold:
Canada men’s 4x100m gold at World Championships
Canada’s Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney and Andre De Grasse topped the men’s 4x100m podium at the 2022 World Athletics Championships.
Brown, the 30-year-old from Toronto, and Blake, the 26-year-old from Burnaby, B.C., were also part of the relay team that took silver in Tokyo 2020 and gold in Oregon along with De fat
For LePage, 26, of Whitby, Ont., the silver was her first major medal after finishing fifth at the Olympics. Reigning Olympic decathlon champion Damian Warner withdrew midway through the event at the world championships with an injury. He will also not participate in the Commonwealth Games.
LOOK | LePage wins decathlon silver:
Canadian Pierce LePage wins silver in the decathlon
Pierce LePage of Whitby, Ont., won silver in the decathlon at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Ore.
Camryn Rogers, who won silver in the hammer throw, and Brendon Rodney, the fourth member of the relay team, are now Canada’s lone world track and field medalists competing in England. Marco Arop, who won bronze in the 800m, was not named in the first team.
Canada is sending 272 athletes to compete in 18 sports and five para sports at the Commonwealth Games.
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