Knee Injury Puts Lewis Out Till ’87

Sprinter and long jumper Carl Lewis, a day after finishing a disappointing third in a 100-meter race, said Thursday that a knee injury that has troubled him for more than two months will sideline him until February.

“I’m finished for the year,” Lewis said. “I’ll be back next year, no doubt.”

Lewis, who won four gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, was third behind Canada’s Ben Johnson Wednesday night at a Grand Prix meet in Zurich, Switzerland. Johnson was timed in 10.03 seconds, Lewis in 10.25. Nigeria’s Chidi Imoh was second in 10.23.

“I’ve had a nagging knee problem,” he told a news conference.

He has experienced pain from a stretched tendon in his left knee since The Athletics Congress meet in June at Eugene, Ore.

Lewis was in West Berlin for a tribute to the memory of 1936 Berlin Olympic star Jesse Owens at a dinner Thursday night and for a Grand Prix meet tonight.