After helping Team USA win two gold medals at the 2023 World Championships, Matthew Boling looked destined to become one of America’s next great sprinters. But 2026 painted a very different picture. He opened his outdoor season with a 5th place finish at the Tom Jones Memorial and continued facing disappointing results.  Just when the 26-year-old had one last chance to turn things around at the USA Outdoor Championships, another setback struck just days before the meet.

On July 22, Boling announced on Instagram that he was shutting down his season. “Tough call to shut my season down and miss USA Nationals with an abdominal strain, but that’s part of the game. Appreciate everyone who’s stayed in my corner. See you when it’s time. 🙏”

The injury forced Boling to withdraw from the 2026 USA Outdoor Championships, which begin on July 23.  The meet was also the selection process for the World Athletics Championships.

The setback is particularly tough for Boling given his run so far. He first got the attention of the track world in 2019 as one of the most popular high school runners in the country. His wind-boosted 9.98-second 100m made him a national star, and he followed up with a string of four gold medals in the Pan American U20 Championships and two World U20 relay records with Team USA.

His career at the University of Georgia continued to climb, and he emerged as one of the top collegiate sprinters in the country. Boling was an NCAA 200m indoor champion in 2021 and 2023, as well as the 200m SEC champion in 2022, and posted a Georgia school record of 20.12 in the indoor 200m. This success was extended to the international arena in 2023.

Boling also helped Team USA claim gold in the mixed 4x400m relay at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, and he set a world record of 3:08.80. He followed with another gold in the men’s 4x400m relay, in which he also participated in the heats. In 2024, he also joined Team USA to win the mixed 4x400m at the 40th World Athletics Relays and improved his PB in the 400m to 44.84.

Although he remained part of the professional circuit and competed in the inaugural Grand Slam Track series in 2025, the breakthrough many expected never quite arrived. Rather, 2026 was to become a frustrating year. However, Boling wasn’t the only American star that had to forfeit the meet.

Olympic Champion Ryan Crouser suffers season-ending injury

Earlier this season, Ryan Crouser had a similar misfortune.  On July 19, the three-time Olympic champion announced that he was ending his 2026 campaign to undergo surgery on his right elbow after revealing he had fractured the tip of his olecranon in May. Despite the injury, Crouser continued competing for several months before deciding surgery was the best long-term option.

Doctors were set to remove the broken bone fragment and perform additional work inside his elbow. Explaining the difficult decision, Crouser said, “It’s definitely the smarter move long term. With the goal of 2027 and 2028 in mind, it’s the right call. It’s just a difficult call.”

Despite the injury, Crouser was able to maintain his competitiveness, taking third place in Xiamen with 22.17m, second in Rabat with 22.31m, and third in the Prefontaine Classic with a season-high throw of 22.48m. The surgery officially brought his season to an early close, ruling him out of the remainder of 2026, including the USA Outdoor Championships, where he was set to defend his national title.