Japan's 20-km race walk world record holder Yusuke Suzuki will miss the Rio de Janeiro Olympics this summer after pulling out of Sunday's qualifier, the Japan Association of Athletics Federations announced Wednesday.

The 28-year-old has been suffering from a groin injury, and although he initially opted to enter the qualifier in his hometown of Nomi, Ishikawa Prefecture, he eventually decided he could not race due to a lack of preparation.

Suzuki logged a time of 1 hour, 16 minutes, 36 seconds over the same course last year to set the world record but pulled out midway through the world championships in Beijing in August and has been struggling to regain fitness since.

Suzuki was 36th over 20 km at the 2012 London Olympics and won a silver medal at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.