The news of the withdrawal came after Valnes was forced to interrupt his planned training on Wednesday earlier than planned.
"Erik experienced pain in the lower back during today's training. The pain will prevent Erik from performing at a normal level", says national team doctor Ove Feragen in a press release from the Norwegian Ski Association.
It remains to be seen if Valnes will start at all in the World Championship.
"We are working on getting the back pain under control so that Erik is ready for potential competitions later in the championship", says Ove Feragen.
Teammate Johannes Høsflot Klæbo is a clear favorite to win the World Championship gold in the sprint, which opens the championship in Trondheim. Behind him, however, Erik Valnes was seen as a hot medal candidate and a challenger to, among others, Swede Edvin Anger.
Valnes has won, among other things, World Championship silver in individual sprint (2021) and also Olympic gold (2022) and World Championship gold (2021) in sprint relay. This winter, the 28-year-old has won a World Cup sprint and been on the podium in four additional sprint competitions.
He also has two podium finishes in the 15 kilometer mass start and 10 kilometer individual start.
