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The Doha World Championships will be the first global track and field competition in more than a decade that won’t feature the sport’s megastar Usain Bolt.
The Jamaican sprinter, who hung up his spikes at the last edition in London two years ago, will be among an array of notable absentees – some out for various reasons – at the 10-day championships in the Qatari capital.
Caster Semenya (800m)
Semenya (28) has been barred from defending her world 800m title in Doha after refusing an IAAF ruling to take testosterone-reducing medication.
The controversial IAAF regulations, which came into effect in May, compel woman athletes to lower their naturally elevated testosterone levels for events ranging from 400m to a mile.
This has also affected Francine Niyonsaba (26) of Burundi, a runner-up to Semenya at the 2016 Rio Olympics and at the 2017 World Championships.
Rio Olympics bronze medallist Margaret Wambui (23) suffered the same fate as Semenya and Niyonsaba as she also didn’t make the cut for Kenya’s Doha-bound team.
Wayde van Niekerk (400m)
The world 400m record holder has not recovered fully from a knee injury and felt it was too soon to run in Doha.
Genzebe Dibaba (1 500m)
The 2015 champion and world record holder from Ethiopia, who is 28, announced on Thursday that she would miss the championships due to a foot injury that she suffered during the Diamond League competition in Zurich last month.
Mo Farah (10 000m)
The 36-year-old middle-distance ace from the UK announced at the conclusion of the 2017 championships that he was retiring from track events and would pursue the marathon at next year’s Olympics in Japan.
David Rudisha (800m)
Rudisha (30) came out of a serious car crash unscathed last month, but the incident happened at a time when the Kenyan world record holder was still trying to shake off back and knee injuries.
Isaac Makwala (400m)
The flamboyant sprinter from Botswana failed to attain the required qualifying mark. Makwala is best remembered for being barred from running in the 400m final at the London global showpiece because he was suffering from an infectious disease.
The 32-year-old Australian star announced last month that her long battle with persistent injuries in recent years had forced her to retire. She was the defending world champion.
Elijah Manangoi (1 500m)
The 26-year-old Kenyan star announced this week that he had sustained an ankle injury in training and would surrender his title without competing in Doha.
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