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Mar-16-2008
Short of Conditioning, Keflezeghi Withdraws from London
by David Monti
(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
Short of conditioning, reigning Olympic Marathon silver medalist Meb Keflezighi of San Diego, CA, has withdrawn from next month's Flora London Marathon. In a statement released by his brother and manager, Merhawi, the man who has twice made the podium of the ING New York City Marathon confirmed what had been rumored for several weeks.
"Meb Keflezighi has decided to pass up on the 2008 Flora London Marathon," read the statement. "Meb is short of the conditioning he and Coach Bob Larsen would like before racing in one of the finest and competitive marathons in the world. Meb and Coach Larsen feel it would be too risky to rush the workouts in preparation for London, during an Olympic year. While Meb is disappointed he will not have a chance to set a significant personal best in London, he realizes it is better to be cautious during the Olympic year. Meb will now give his complete focus on preparing for the USATF Olympic Trials."
This is the second time Keflezighi, 32, has had to withdraw from London. The first time was in 2005 when an injury forced him out of the race. He started the race in 2007, but dropped out in the 16th mile (26th km) when an Achilles injury combined with a huge blister on the bottom of his foot made finishing the race too risky.
In his last marathon at the USA Olympic Team Trials - Men's Marathon last November in New York City, Keflezighi finished a disappointing eighth in 2:15:09. He was hampered in that race by a hip injury, the recovery from which has been slower than expected leading to his decision to bow out of London. By finishing out of the top-3 at the Trials, Keflezighi lost his chance to run the Olympic Marathon in 2008. Indeed, the U.S. will send three different athletes to Beijing in the men's marathon than they did to Athens: Ryan Hall, Dathan Ritzenhein and Brian Sell vs. Dan Browne, Alan Culpepper and Keflezighi.
Keflezighi still has a good chance to make the Olympic team at 10,000m when the USA Olympic Team Trials in track and field open in Eugene, Ore., on June 27. He is the U.S. record holder for the distance (27:13.98) and has won the national title at 10,000m three times: 2000, '02 and '04). He will need to finish in the top-3 of his selection race to assure himself of a spot on the team; he already has an Olympic Games "A" qualifer of 27:41.26 set in Brussels last September.
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