- Mo Farah withdraws from the London Marathon on Sunday due to a hip issue.
- Organizers say he has received extensive care and is not fit to compete.
- Brigid Kosgei, the two-time London Marathon champion, also withdraws.
Mo Farah, a four-time Olympic winner for Great Britain, withdrew from the London Marathon on Sunday due to a hip issue.
The six-time world champion was not fit to compete, according to the organizers, after receiving extensive care, they announced on Wednesday.
“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,” Farah said in a statement.
“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.”
His absence comes a week after Brigid Kosgei, the two-time London Marathon champion and women’s world record holder from Kenya, withdrew due to a minor hamstring ailment.
Eilish McColgan, the 10,000-meter 10,000 Commonwealth Games champion, withdrew this month for medical reasons as well, and Tamirat Tola, the men’s world champion from Ethiopia, withdrew in August due to muscle exhaustion.
Farah, now 39, would have drawn a lot of attention from the locals as the best distance runner in Great Britain.
