Olympic 100m hurdles champion reveals how she feared her hand might need to be amputated following her fall in Rome

Sally Pearson is to miss the IAAF World Championships in Beijing this summer following the wrist injury she sustained during a fall in Rome earlier this month.

The Olympic 100m hurdles champion hit one of the barriers during the Diamond League race and after her fall she lay on the track clutching her left wrist.

The Australian took to Twitter on Monday to share pictures of her injury, explaining how doctors had described it as an “explosion of bones”.

“Unfortunately out of worlds this year from my wrist injury,” tweeted the 28-year-old.

Pearson also told reporters how she had feared that her hand might need to be amputated.

The BBC quoted Pearson as saying: “I was terrified seeing my hand going in a different direction.

“I thought they would have to amputate.”

Pearson won the world title in 2011 and world silver in 2013 but with her injury ruling her out of this year’s championships she will now focus on next year’s Olympic Games in Rio.