Kishane Thompson, the Jamaican sprinter leading the world this season over 100 metres, has been ruled out of yet another marquee race as ongoing shin issues continue to disrupt his momentum.
Thompson, who shocked the athletics world by clocking a blistering 9.75 seconds at the Jamaican trials, will be absent from Wednesday’s Lausanne Diamond League — an event that was set to showcase a highly anticipated rematch against American rival Noah Lyles.
Sources close to the event confirmed that the sprinter has been experiencing persistent shin discomfort since his commanding win over Lyles in Poland, where he equaled the meet record at 9.87 seconds. The timing of the injury casts a shadow over his final preparations for the upcoming World Championships in Tokyo this September.
This marks the second high-profile withdrawal for Thompson within a matter of weeks, following a string of dominant performances that had placed him at the forefront of championship predictions. His absence from Lausanne — and now also from Zurich later this month — removes one of the most electrifying storylines of the season: a potential back-to-back showdown with Lyles, who narrowly defeated Thompson at the last Olympics by five-thousandths of a second.
Despite missing the 2023 World Championships, Thompson’s form this year has made him one of the sport’s most feared finishers. His 9.75 remains the fastest time in the world this season and the sixth fastest in history.
All eyes now turn to his recovery window. With Tokyo less than a month away, Thompson’s camp is racing against time — not just to restore fitness, but to maintain the sharpness that had redefined the global sprinting landscape just weeks ago.
For now, the duel is deferred. But the stakes have only grown higher.
