Farah forced to pull out of London marathon due to injury
Mo Farah has been forced to withdraw from Sunday's London Marathon due to a hip injury with this latest setback raising doubts over the
39-year-old's future in competitive racing.
The four-time Olympic gold medallist was due to run the race
for the first time since 2019 after making a return to the track in a failed
attempt to compete at last year's Olympics in Tokyo.
Farah did return to form on the road by winning the "Big
Half" - a London half marathon - earlier this month.
"I've been training really hard over the past few months
and I'd got myself back into good shape and was feeling pretty optimistic about
being able to put in a good performance," said Farah in a statement issued
by London marathon organisers on Wednesday.
"However, over the past 10 days I've been feeling pain
and tightness in my right hip. I've had extensive physio and treatment and done
everything I can to be on the start line but it hasn't improved enough to
compete on Sunday."
He added: "It's really disappointing to have to withdraw
after a good last few months and after my win at The Big Half but also because
I love racing in front of my home crowd in London who always give all of us
athletes such amazing support."
Farah has never won the London marathon in three previous
attempts, with his best finish coming in 2018 when he was third.
Ethiopian reigning champion Sisay Lemma and his compatriot
Kenenisa Bekele, the second-fastest marathon runner of all time, are among the
favourites for the men's race.
Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge is not running after smashing his own
world record by 30 seconds at the Berlin marathon last Sunday.
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