Former world champion Vlasic pulls out of Lausanne Diamond League meeting

Two-time world champion of high jump Blanka Vlasic has decided to skip this Thursday's Diamond League event in Lausanne, announced the organizers on Tuesday.

The 31-year-old Croatian suffered a bad Achilles' tendon and opted to rest it before the August 22-30 World Championships in Beijing.

"Unfortunately I have to back out from the Lausanne Diamond League meeting on July 9 due to some upcoming problem with my right Achilles' tendon," said the former world champion in a statement.

"I need to be careful not to risk anything serious before the World Championships in Beijing at the end of August. Now I will have the best possible treatment and hopefully I will be fit for fight soon," she added.

The 2007 and 2009 worlds winner and Olympic silver medalist in Beijing 2008 marked a personal best of 2.08 meters set in Zurich in 2009, but has not conquered higher than 2m so far this season.

She had surgery on her left Achilles' tendon before the London Olympic Games which cost her the whole season of 2012, and withdrawn from the 2013 worlds in Moscow as well as the 2014 European Championships in Zurich.

"It's sad that I can't take part in Lausanne because it's really one of my absolute favorite meetings with a great atmosphere," Vlasic told an official statement through the Lausanne meeting's organizers.