World and Olympic Triple Jump Champion, Christian Taylor, Suffers Season-Ending Injury

“Christian Taylor in his 17.77 jump (4th jump in the final) at Rio 2016” from Citizen59 on August 16, 2016

In tragic sports news, reigning 4x World Champion and 2x Olympic Champion, Christian Taylor, has ended his season with an injury.

The second furthest triple jumper in history had to pull out of the competition on June 2nd in Ostrava after rupturing his Achilles tendon.

The unfortunate news comes just weeks before the US Olympic Trials and a month and a half before the Tokyo Olympic Games where Taylor was the odds on favorite to become only the second man in history to win three Olympics in a row for triple jump.

As other outlets have reported, Taylor has already undergone surgery and it appears to have gone well. It was a clean rupture and clean procedure. No date has been given, but most cases see athletes returning to full function after 24 weeks of rest and rehabilitation.

With Taylor being out of the 2021 Olympics, that leaves former teammate and U.S. compatriot Will Claye to fill his shoes. Luckily, Claye is no stranger to the podium and is in good early form.

Others to keep an eye out for gold are recently minted indoor world record holder Hugues Fabrice Zango, and Cubans Andy Díaz and Jordan Alejandro Díaz Fortun.

Wish for a speedy and healthy recovery for the triple jump king.