Sally Pearson will not race one of her fiercest 100m hurdles rivals at the world championships after Olympic champion Brianna Rollins was banned 12 months for missing drug tests.
Rio Olympics gold medallist Rollins has been punished for "whereabouts failures" after missing three tests in 2016, the United States Anti-Doping Agency has announced.
Rollins was unavailable for tests on April 27, September 13 and September 27 last year.
It means the 25-year-old American will not contest August's world titles in London, Pearson's major international comeback after two years plagued by injury.
The news comes just as Australia's 2012 Olympic champion is rediscovering the type of form that saw her break the games record in London.
The pair's heated rivalry began when Rollins relegated Pearson to silver at the 2013 world championships in Moscow.
It would have kicked off a month earlier had Rollins not withdrawn from a lead-up Diamond League meet because her advisers didn't want her to race against the then defending world and Olympic champion.
The toll of Pearson's wrist, Achilles and then hamstring injuries prevented her from exacting revenge at last year's Rio Games.
Rollins won gold in the absence of Pearson and world record-holder Kendra Harrison, in an unremarkable time of 12.48 seconds.
It was not much faster than that clocked by Pearson at this month's Australian titles, when the 30-year-old re-announced herself with a wind-assisted 12.53 seconds - her fastest time since that 2013 world titles silver.
At the time of Rollins' Rio win, the now self-coached Pearson happily tweeted that her Olympic record time of 12.35 seconds remained intact.
Rollins will keep her Olympic gold medal since the US Anti-Doping Agency said her competitive results would only be annulled from September 27, the date of her third whereabouts failure.
"I accept full responsibility for the mistakes that have led to my suspension, and am disappointed that I will have to miss this coming outdoor season, as a result of my confusion over how the whereabouts program worked," Rollins said in a statement.
"This is a very unpleasant experience, but I am able to see where errors were made.
"Understanding this will prevent any similar issues in the future, I will accept the sanction and work to prepare myself for my return in 2018."
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