A hamstring injury has forced champion walker Jared Tallent to withdraw from the world athletics championships, depriving the Australian team of their most-consistent medal winner.
Tallent has claimed a podium finish in the 50km walk at every Olympics and world championships bar one since 2008, highlighted by his gold at the 2012 London Games.
On that occasion, he did not receive the gold until almost four years after the event, when Russian Sergey Kirdyapkin was retrospectively stripped of the title for doping.
Tallent has had a disrupted build-up to the 2017 world titles, although such is his pedigree that he had still been considered one of the best medal chances among the 62-strong Australian squad.
"2017 has been a remarkable year for me," he said in a statement from his altitude training base in Switzerland.
"On the one hand, my wife and I excitingly welcomed our son, Harvey, to the world and we could not be happier.
"On the other, I have been challenged in my race walking, with recurring injuries and now a hamstring complaint that will prevent me from being able to start."
All four of the walks at the world championships will take place on Sunday.
Tallent's wife Claire will compete in the women's 20km race, less than three months after giving birth.
"The decision to withdraw is never easy, but the good news is that I will have the chance to cheer on my wife, Claire," said Tallent.
" ... it will be a privilege to support her in the way she has supported me so many times before.
"My attention also turns to recovering from what has been a difficult few months of race walking, with my sights set on challenging myself once again."
Other major events on the horizon for Tallent include the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Australia will be unrepresented in the men's 50km walk in London.
Hopes of a walking medal rest largely with 25-year-old Dane Bird-Smith in the 20km race - the event where he claimed a breakthrough Olympic bronze last year in Rio.
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