LONDON: Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele, the second-fastest man in history over the distance, has withdrawn from Sunday’s London Marathon with a calf injury which has put paid to his showdown with world record holder Eliud Kipchoge, organisers said on Friday.
Bekele said he picked up the injury after “two fast training sessions too close together”, leaving Kenya’s Kipchoge as an even hotter favourite to win his fifth title in the race which will be run on a new, multi-lap course at St James’s Park.