Marathon News - Tergat Withdraws from London Marathon

Apr-19-2006

Tergat Withdraws from London Marathon
by David Monti
(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved

World marathon record holder Paul Tergat of Kenya has been forced to withdraw from Sunday's Flora London Marathon with an injury.

"He had a problem with his calf beginning last week," said his manager Federico Rosa in a telephone interview from London. Rosa said they treated the problem aggressively, but that Tergat was simply not 100%. "We made the decision last night (to drop out)," he added.

Tergat, 36, was one of the favorites for victory against a stacked field, which includes multiple Olympic medalists, world champions and world record holders, like Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, Stefano Baldini of Italy, and Jaouad Gharib of Morocco. Tergat, who set the world record in Berlin in 2003, has never tasted victory at London, the race where he made his marathon debut in 2001 when he finished second. He was also second in 2002, fourth in 2003, and eighth in 2005.

"He was in the shape of his life," added Rosa, "even better than Robert (Kipkoech Cheruiyot)," who won Monday's BAA Boston Marathon. Cheruiyot is a training partner of Tergat's.

Sunday's Flora London Marathon is the second race in the World Marathon Majors series.