DOHA (Reuters) – American Michael Norman, a gold medal favorite at the world athletics championships, missed out on the 400 meters final after holding back in the semi-final to avoid exacerbating a lingering injury.
The 21-year-old, who finished last in his heat in a time of 45.94 seconds, said he had decided to slow down to avoid hurting himself.
“My body gave me warning signs today and I listened to them,” he said. “I made the executive choice to slow down instead of risking injury.”
Norman had come into the world championships holding the season’s best time of 43.45 seconds, the joint fourth fastest 400 meters run in history.
(Reporting by Gene Cherry; Writing by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Ed Osmond)
