DOHA — Two-time gold medalist and defending champion Dafne Schippers and Ivory Coast's 100 meters bronze medalist Marie-Josee Ta Lou withdrew from the 200m at the World Championships Monday due to injuries.

Schippers, the 2015 and 2017 world champion, scratched from her heat 24 hours after tweaking her left thigh in Sunday's 100m semifinals in Doha.

The 27-year-old flying Dutchwoman had already withdrawn from Sunday's 100m final.

"Unfortunately, Dafne Schippers will not take part in the 200m today," the Dutch Athletics Federation said on Twitter.

The injury absence completes a difficult season for Schippers, who has struggled to regain her best form after suffering a back injury in a fall at her home in February.

It was not immediately clear if Schippers would be fit to participate in the 4x100m relay which starts on Friday.

Ta Lou, the 200m silver medalist in the 2017 World Championships in London, withdrew after revealing she had suffered a knee injury in Sunday's 100m semifinal.

She said she only competed in the 100m final, where she took bronze, after treatment from a physiotherapist.

"That allowed me to run the final and it was with the heart that I ran and that I won the medal," Ta Lou wrote on Instagrame.

"Unfortunately, I will not be able to do the 200m today, even if my heart wants it, my knee refuses." — AFP