The defending champion in the 400m hurdles suffered a setback in training this week.
It was announced on Wednesday that World Champion hurdler Alison dos Santos of Brazil suffered a meniscus injury while training, and will need to undergo surgery to repair the damage.
“Passing by today to give not so good news,” dos Santos said in a video message obtained by Olympics.com. “This week, I ended up having an injury to my knee, but nothing is impossible to treat. Are you aware of how life works? I want to thank everyone who is sending messages, good energy, doing their best to comfort me a little. And the life that goes on! Let’s focus, nothing changes, we have our goals. And let’s go through this together, right guys? I never lost a clutch in the R6. It won’t be this little pain in the season… Let’s go together, thank you for the affection. We are together.”
Dos Santos has proven to be a force to be reckoned with in the 400m hurdles. He’s coming off of an impressive 2022 track and field campaign that included him taking home the gold medal at the World Championships in Oregon. His winning time of 46.29 was the fastest time in the world last season.
Dos Santos found success at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, taking home a bronze medal in a race that saw the world record get taken down by Karsten Warholm.
It is unclear how long dos Santos’s recovery time will be post-operation.
