CIARA MAGEEAN HAS been forced to withdraw from tomorrow’s 1500m heats at the Olympic Games in Paris.

An Achilles injury has cost Mageean the opportunity to compete, a cruel blow for the Portaferry native who won gold in the 1500m in the European Athletics Championships in Rome in June.

Injury had also impacted Mageean at the last Olympics in Tokyo as a calf problem contributed to her exit at the heats stage.

Mageean narrowly missed out on a medal last August at the World Championships in Budapest as she finished fourth in the 1500m.

Team Ireland this evening announced the news of Mageean’s withdrawal.

“Despite every effort made by Ciara and the Team Ireland medical team, the European champion will unfortunately be unable to toe the line tomorrow morning.”

“I’m absolutely heartbroken not to be able to compete in my third Olympic Games,” said Mageean.

“I gave it everything to make it possible to be on the start line, but time was against me. I want to thank everyone for all their support.”