Aries Merritt out of Saturday's Indoor Meet in Boston, by Toni Reavis, note by Larry Eder

Aries Merritt, photo by www.PhotoRun.net

Aries Merritt has pulled out of the 2013 Boston New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, with a concern over a potential injury he had yesterday. Track athletes have to concern themselves with such matters, especially during a World Championship year.

HURDLES CHAMP ARIES MERRITT OUT AT SATURDAY’S INDOOR MEET IN BOSTON

by Toni Reavis

Oly champ Aries Merritt

Merritt, 2012 Olympic hurdles champion and world record holder, has withdrawn from this Saturday’s New Balance Indoor Grand Prix at Boston’s Reggie Lewis Center. The news was released by meet organizers late this afternoon.

“At the beginning of yesterday’s workout, I experienced a cramp as I went over a hurdle during one of my drills,” said Merritt in a prepared statement. “I hate to disappoint Boston area track and field fans, but my physio think it is best if I withdraw to ensure I stay healthy for the rest of this World Championship year. I hope everyone understands.”

Merritt was one of the first athletes to commit to the 18th NBIGP, and is a big loss. He’d run the meet twice before, taking seventh in the 60m hurdles in 2010, then second last year. That still leaves Olympic champions Tirunesh Dibaba (10,000m) and Jenn Suhr (pole vault) as meet headliners, along with Olympic silver medalists Galen Rupp(10,000m) and Dejen Gebremeskel (5000m) who will meet in the 3000m on Saturday.

END

Toni Reavis | January 30, 2013 at 5:25 pm | Tags: Aries Merritt, New Balance Indoor Grand Prix | Categories: News | URL: http://wp.me/p1p8ec-1zl

Author

Larry Eder

Larry Eder has had a 51-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."

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