ESPN Track and Field

By Gene Cherry

CARSON, California, June 25 - Former triple Olympic champion Marion Jones plans to be running again by August, her agent said on Saturday.

"She will be back, running somewhere in Europe, by August," Charles Wells told Reuters.

Jones walked off the track before the start of her 100 metres preliminaries at the U.S. championships on Friday after experiencing problems with a hip flexor she had injured last week.

"It is not serious, but if she had run it would have been," Wells said in a telephone interview.

The championships are the U.S. trials for August's world championships in Helsinki, and Jones had said she was "a long shot" to make the American team after running poorly all season.

Few, however, expected her dramatic departure to come without running a competitive step, especially after seeing her warm-up and her stride for at least 40 metres.

Her coach insisted, though, the walk-off did not signal the end of Jones's career.

MAJOR SURPRISE

"People who are writing her off are going to be in for a major surprise," Steve Riddick told Reuters. "She is going to be fine."

"She can run, but she can not drive out of the blocks," he added. "That's the problem, she can't start."

"The injury is very slight -- she tweaked her left quads in practice five or six days ago -- but we have to be cautious."

Wells said Jones's retirement plans had not changed.

"Marion Jones is not retiring until after the 2008 Beijing Olympics," he said. "She will be fine in two weeks."

He said no track meetings had been lined up in Europe, "but she will be running somewhere", most likely after the world championships.

Riddick was more cautious about her return. She "probably" will compete later this summer, he said.

Wells, a former sprinter, said it did not take long for an injury like Jones's to heal.

MORE SERIOUS

"I had a sprinter, Dennis Mitchell, who did the same thing in 1995," he said. "It took about 30 days for him to recover, and his injury was more serious."

Jones's departure left both her and partner Tim Montgomery out of the championships.

Montgomery pulled out on Friday, saying he could not concentrate on running.

He is awaiting a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on doping charges. He has been accused by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) of serious violations in connection with the BALCO drugs scandal.

USADA is seeking a lifetime ban for Montgomery, who has never failed a doping test. He appealed his case to CAS, which conducted a week-long hearing in San Francisco earlier this month. No decision is expected before late July and Montgomery is eligible to compete until CAS renders its binding decision.

Jones also has been under scrutiny by USADA, but she, like Montgomery, has never failed a doping test.

Both have repeatedly denied taking performance-enhancing drugs.

This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index