Olympic triple-jump champ Christian Taylor tears Achilles

By Associated Press

TOKYO: Two-time Olympic triple-jump champion Christian Taylor underwent surgery to repair a torn Achilles and will miss the Tokyo Games.

Taylor was injured during a meet in Ostrava, Czech Republic, on Wednesday. He had surgery Thursday morning in Germany.

The 30-year-old Taylor captured gold at the 2012 London Games and again four years later in Rio. He’s also earned four gold medals at the world championships, including three in a row.

Taylor has the second-longest leap all time in an event where an athlete attempts to soar as far as possible by performing a hop, step, and then a jump from a running start.

His best mark was 59 feet, 9 inches (18.21 meters) in 2015. The world record is held by Jonathan Edwards of Great Britain when he went just over 60 feet (18.29) in 1995.

Bothered by knee issues, Taylor made the difficult decision around eight years ago to switch from jumping off his left leg to his right. He called it one of the greatest challenges of his career, but it allowed him to jump even farther.

Taylor is the president of The Athletics Association, whose mission is to help advance and grow the sport with athletes being the priority.

Before going pro, Taylor was a standout at the University of Florida and a 10-time NCAA All-American.