Johnson-Thompson and Asher-Smith out of Commonwealth Games through injury

Birmingham's athletics programme opens without its two headliners

Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Dina Asher-Smith have withdrawn from the Commonwealth Games before competition begins, removing the two athletes most casual fans would recognise from the home team.

Johnson-Thompson, the Olympic heptathlon silver medallist, won the 2019 world title in Doha with 6,981 points. She ruptured her Achilles at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, recovered to claim Olympic silver, but another injury has ruled her out of Birmingham. Heptathlon demands peak form across seven disciplines over two days, and a competitor carrying any physical issue cannot hide in that format.

Asher-Smith won the 200m world title in 2019 and holds the British 100m record at 10.83 seconds. Commonwealth sprint fields are typically less deep than World Championship or Olympic lineups, which made Birmingham a realistic stage for her to extend her medal tally.

The British team carries depth in both the heptathlon and sprints, but the loss of two Olympic-level athletes competing on home soil is not easily absorbed.