Olympic long jumper Greg Rutherford withdraws from World Indoor Championships

Olympic long-jump champion Greg Rutherford has withdrawn from next week's World Indoor Championships in the United States.

The 29-year-old, who is also the European Champion in his field, was due to compete in Portland but due to a chest infection and hamstring injury, the British athlete has opted out of the meet.

British Athletics performance director Neil Black said in a statement: "Greg is really disappointed not to be able to compete in Portland, but his body reacted harder than expected to this week's training.

"Defending the Olympic title is obviously Greg's main focus for 2016, so he has sensibly decided not to take any risks and to end his indoor season here. This will allow him the opportunity to concentrate on being in the best shape possible going into the outdoor season and ultimately Rio."

Rutherford also withdrew from the Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix and the British Indoor Championships last month.