Olympic hopeful Joe Thomas and coach Arwyn Davies have issued a statement concerning the injury status of the 800m star.

"A MRI scan performed on Joe revealed a grade 2/3 stress - fracture of the lower left leg. We anticipate Joe being in an “Air-cast Boot” for a period of 4-6 weeks. Both Joe and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the support staff at Sport Wales, Sophia Gardens for all their support over the past couple of months during what has been a very demanding time for us both as a coach-athlete partnership and for the support staff involved in his well-being."

The injury puts an end to Joe's hopes to compete at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

A stellar indoor campaign saw the Cardiff AAC athlete achieve six successive personal best, beating the Welsh record and taking him to a World Championships indoor semi-final in Istanbul. But the 24-year-old picked up a heel injury in this race and also developed a shin problem which had developed into a stress fracture.

Thomas was expected to challenge to join English duo Andrew Osagie and Michael Rimmer for a place in the 800m. But another Welsh challenge has emerged after Gareth Warburton (coach: Darrell Maynard) ran a personal best of 1:46:31 on Sunday in Poland, just one hundreth of a second outside the Olympic B qualification standard.

All the best to Joe for a quick recovery!