The Rio Olympic hopes of Australian pole vaulter Liz Parnov are over after a serious fall at training.
Parnov was in tears after fracturing the tibia in her right leg in Friday's training mishap, with the 21-year-old taken to hospital in an ambulance.
The West Australian, set to undergo surgery on Saturday morning, is expected to be on crutches for six weeks.
The lengthy rehabilitation process means her hopes of competing in Rio are officially over.
Parnov was already facing an uphill battle to qualify for her second Olympics.
She would have needed to have at least equalled her personal best jump of 4.50m to win a berth at Rio.
Just last week, she won the women's pole vault title at the national championships in Sydney with a leap of 4.30m, fuelling her confidence that a bigger jump wasn't far off.
Parnov made her Olympic debut at the 2012 Games in London, but bombed out in qualifying after failing to register a height.
National record holder Alana Boyd has already claimed one of the three spots on offer for the Rio Games, with Parnov, her older sister Vicky and Nina Kennedy in contention for the other two.
Vicky rushed to be by her sister's side after hearing news of the serious fall.
Their coach and father Alex Parnov was also on hand.
It's not the first time Liz Parnov has suffered a major injury.
She was forced on crutches for eight weeks last June after fracturing her tibia in a heavy fall.
Parnov said she blacked out immediately after that fall, and thought she had broken her back because she couldn't stand up once she regained consciousness.
Liz Parnov is the niece of 2000 Olympics pole vault silver medallist Tatiana Grigorieva.
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