Young U.S. sprint star Trayvon Bromell said he will go one month without competing before his Olympic Trials on July 2 due to an Achilles sprain from May, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
“I’m healing pretty fast,” Bromell said, according to the report. “I’m taking it one step at a time, though.
“I’m going to come in fresh for the trials.”
Bromell, who shared World Championships 100m bronze at age 20 last year, suffered the injury (the latest in an early career full of them) before a Diamond League meet in Rome on June 2, according to the report.
Bromell ran in Rome anyway, finishing seventh in a strange 200m. He led coming around the curve but slowed considerably in the final straightaway, falling to seventh place.
Afterward, Bromell was reportedly taken out of the stadium in an ambulance after spending 10 minutes on the floor. A tweet from Bromell’s account later said he made a mistake not bringing an asthma pump but made no reference to an Achilles injury.
Bromell was scheduled to compete in Birmingham, Great Britain, three days later and in Oslo on June 9 but withdrew from both meets.
Bromell has a serious (if far removed) injury history. He broke his left knee in eighth grade doing backflips, broke his right knee and forearm in ninth grade playing basketball and in 10th grade cracked a hip during a race.
Following a breakout 2015, Bromell has not put up any 100m or 200m times this year that would make him a favorite to make the Olympic team individually.
The other Olympic Trials favorites in the 100m and 200m are Justin Gatlin, the World silver medalist in both events, Tyson Gay, Isiah Young, Ameer Webb, Mike Rodgers (100m only) and, in the 200m only, LaShawn Merritt, should Merritt contest it at trials in addition to his favored 400m.
The Olympic Trials are July 1-10 in Eugene, Ore., broadcast on NBC Sports.
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