Reade crashed out of the Olympic BMX final in August 2008

British BMX star Shanaze Reade will be unable to defend her world title in Australia in July after hurting a shoulder in a fall in training.

Reade, whose dramatic crash at the 2008 Olympics resulted in her missing out on a medal, exacerbated an old injury.

"I'm very disappointed. My focus now is on recovery and getting back into training as soon as I can," she said.

The 20-year-old from Crewe had hoped to compete in the mountain biking World Cup event in Fort William this weekend.

Having taken silver in the team sprint with Victoria Pendleton at the Track World Championships, she had her sights set on winning world medals in three different disciplines in the same year.

However, surgeons have recommended a keyhole procedure to fully identify and fix her shoulder problem, which Reade first suffered two years ago.

The BMX World Championships begin in Adelaide, Australia, on 23 July.

"I really wanted to get out there and defend my BMX title," added Reade.

"I'm also disappointed that I can't make my mountain bike debut in the 4-cross at the World Cup."

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