Pearson breaks wrist in race fall
Olympic 100m hurdles champion Sally Pearson has broken her left wrist in a heavy fall at the Diamond League meet in Rome, with the injury almost certain to force her out of August’s world athletics championships.
Pearson’s manager Robert Joske said Pearson had fractured her wrist in two places.
She was to have surgery in Rome on Friday before returning to Australia.
Pearson, 28, broke the ulna and the radius in her left wrist and also suffered a dislocation of the joint after hitting the fifth hurdle and crashing to the track.
The Queenslander is the reigning Olympic gold medallist and the 2011 world champion in the 100m hurdles.
Pearson was second behind American Brianna Rollins at the 2013 world championships in Moscow and had been determined to regain the world crown in Beijing in August.
Rollins also fell and failed to finish the dramatic race in Rome on Thursday night (early Friday AEST), while fellow American and 2015 rankings leader Jasmin Stowers also had difficulty before jogging over the line in last place.
American Sharika Nelvis took the win in a personal best of 12.52 seconds.
“Being in lane two, I just focused on what was in front of me so I had no idea of what was happening on my inside,” said Nelvis.
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Pearson’s injury overshadowed an impressive second placing by fellow Australian Dani Samuels in the discus.
Samuels, the 2009 world champion, threw 65.47m to finish second behind reigning Olympic titleholder Sandra Perkovic of Croatia (67.92m).
NSW’s Madeline Heiner ran a personal best of 9:21.56 to come fifth in the 3000m steeplechase.
The time makes her the second-fastest Australian woman of all time behind Donna MacFarlane, who clocked 9:18.35 in 2008.
