The 27-year-old European bronze medallist from London, currently ranked four in the world in the men's foil, will be replaced in the individual event by Jamie Kenber.

Marcus Mepstead - a member of the four-man team that won bronze in the recent European Fencing Championships - has been brought in for the team event.

The championships are due to be held in Paris from November 4-13 at the Grand Palais.

Britain will be sending a team of 23 athletes across the six disciplines.

Graham Watts, performance director for British Fencing, said: "Richard's injury is undeniably a blow to our preparations for the World Championships and is particularly hard on the athlete concerned since he is unable to add to a superb tally of medals in recent events, including his two European medals in July.

"We have a strong men's foil squad, however, as indicated by the fact that our B team won the silver medal in the pre-worlds team event in Poland, last weekend, where Kenber was in spectacular form and we remain confident of strong results in Paris."

The initial x-ray diagnosis is that a bone has fractured in Kruse's foot and that he will require six weeks of rehabilitation.

Men's foil team coach Ziemek Wojciechowski said: "Injury is always a risk for world class athletes like Richard, but let's remember he suffered a fracture in his foot in 2008 and his hand in 2009 and has gone on to win eight international medals since, including gold at the Singapore Masters in September.

"Richard is a strong and resilient athlete - he will be back at top form for the Olympic qualifying period."


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