![\"Kerr](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/kerr-competes-in-the-mens-high-jump-final-at-the-2024-summer-7H6ABQO4M5FBRBJZY62ISEU4GE.jpg\")
<\/p>\nDefending Commonwealth Games High Jump Champion Hamish Kerr has withdrawn from competition in Glasgow, saying he’s not ready to compete.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the year, Kerr took a break for a “physical and mental reset” but he\u2019d arrived in Scotland fully intending to pull on the black singlet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really thought that coming in here, there was a potential that I would feel good and feel ready to go, but just over the last few days I’ve realised that there’s probably still a little bit of work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kerr won his first international gold medal at the Birmingham games in 2022 and he is the reigning Olympic and World high jump champion.<\/p>\n
He will be a loss to the New Zealand athletics programme in Scotland but he said it wasn’t a decision he made lightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that the Commonwealth Games is a massively important event for me personally and for our country, and so I was intending to do everything I could to be here. And unfortunately, we’re in this position and it just wasn’t quite enough.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kerr competes in the men’s high jump final at the 2024 Summer Olympics. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
The 29-year-old said he hoped to be in a position to return to competition in the coming weeks with the LA Olympics in 2028 still the ultimate goal, something that played a part in this decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that’s important this year to explore these things, and really make sure that I’m right for the bigger ones coming forward, so that is certainly the intention.\u201d<\/p>\n
New Zealand Team Chef de Mission, Nigel Avery, said the team are fully supportive of the high jumper\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cHamish has built his career on striving for excellence and performing at the highest level. While this was a hard decision, it speaks to the standards he holds himself to and the competitor he is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kerr will remain to support the broader New Zealand team, his partner Maddie Wilson will compete in the heptathlon at Scotstoun Stadium.<\/p>\n
The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including Winston Peters addresses the Stuart Nash saga, and what Sydney Sweeney\u2019s up to in Queenstown. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Defending Commonwealth Games High Jump Champion Hamish Kerr has withdrawn from competition in Glasgow, saying he’s not ready…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[16671,166477,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-545341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-athletics","tag-commonwealth-games","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}