Britain's four-time Olympic gold medallist Chris Hoy has pulled out of the track world
championships in Poland later this month with a hip injury.

"I'm hugely disappointed that I'm not going to be riding in the Worlds," Hoy said in a statement from British Cycling.

The 32-year-old Scot suffered the injury in a high-speed crash in the closing stages of a World Cup Keirin race in Copenhagen last month.

"I'm glad it didn't happen this time last year and I'm still totally focused on being in the best shape possible for London 2012," said Hoy, who has never previously missed a major championships because of injury.

"This doesn't affect my long term aim of defending my titles and I'll hopefully be back in training and competition in the near future."

Roger Palfreeman, the British team's doctor, said the crash had left Hoy with a lot of fluid on his hip.

"This type of injury is quite serious and pretty rare," he said. "He needs to give himself a decent amount of time to let the injury heal, which is why we've advised him not to compete in the Worlds."

Hoy won two titles at last year's track world championships in Manchester when the powerhouse British team collected an unprecedented nine gold medals.