Injured Kluft out of world championships

Carolina Kluft of Sweden competes in the women's long jump athletics final in the National Stadium at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 22, 2008.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - World heptathlon champion Carolina Kluft will miss next month's world championships and the remainder of the season after suffering a hamstring injury, the Swedish athletics federation said Wednesday.

The Swede, who dominated heptathlon before switching to the long jump and the triple jump at the Beijing Olympics last year, picked up the injury at a meeting on home soil in Karlskrona on Monday.

Kluft is expected to undergo surgery this week, after which she will need at least six months rehabilitation, the federation said after the 26-year-old underwent a scan in Stockholm on Wednesday.

"It obviously feels very heavy," Kluft told Swedish public radio. "This is the worst setback of my sporting career."

Kluft, a three-time world heptathlon champion as well as 2004 Olympic champion, finished ninth in the long jump but failed to qualify for the triple jump final in Beijing.

Earlier this year, Kluft announced she would be focussing on the long jump during 2009.

"I will be back, there's no question about it." Kluft said.

(Writing by Oliver Grassman; Editing by Justin Palmer)