Elite Australian athlete Sally Pearson suffers "bone explosion"

Pearson is in a cast and out of the World Championships for this year due to injury

Pearson, who is the reigning Olympic champion at 100m hurdles, suffered a bad fall at the Rome edition of the Diamond League games held on the 4^th of June in the Italian capital,

Doctors described the injury, in which Pearson’s left hand turned in a different direction and then a shade of dark blue, as a ‘bone explosion’. She described the ordeal as “terrrifying”, afraid they would have to amputate.

The 28-year-old said she had “never had any major injuries or surgery before, or even stitches”, and found the experience, especially having to go through it in another country, extremely traumatic.

Already an Olympic champion, Pearson won the Commonwealth Games title in 2014.

She described herself as “disappointed” to not have the opportunity to regain her title at the IAAF World Championships, which she first won four years ago, but says she is “thankful” that she did not injure her ankle instead. The Championships will be held this August at the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing.

Pearson says she will use the time as a “mental and physical break” going into training for the 2016 Olympics, due to be held in Rio.