Meb forced to drop out of London Marathon at mile 16 with foot/achilles pain
Posted April 22nd, 2007 at 11:15 AM by Adam Jacobs
Section: News & Results, Marathons, Special Features, Live Race Coverage
Meb Keflezighi, the 2004 Olympic marathon silver medalist and an American favorite in today’s London Marathon, was one of the many elite athletes forced to drop out of the race.
Meb had been running in the lead packs before withdrawing; running alongside fellow American Ryan Hall for most of the race. Meb’s brother and agent, Merhawi Keflezighi, explained to The Final Sprint via email that Meb withdrew from the marathon at mile 16 because:
“The blister flared up again on his left foot. Meb’s compensation for the discomfort led to some pain in Meb’s achilles (on the right foot) … [and] it became too much for Meb to take without enduring more serious injury”.
Other elite male runners to not finish the race included: Olympic marathon gold medalist Stefano Baldini, Ethiopian running legend Haile Gebrselassie, and former world record holder and American favorite Khalid Khannouchi.
The reasons for Baldini and Khannouchi’s withdrawal are thus far unknown, but Gebrselassie told BBC reporters on the scene: “I can not breathe … it is not the weather … maybe I ate something … I don’t know what’s going on.”
CLICK HERE to check out TheFinalSprint.com’s follow-up, audio interview with Meb (Podcast #41) where he takes us through his race, explains exactly what went wrong, why elites such as Baldini, Khalid and Geb also had to drop-out, and the record-setting performance of Ryan Hall.
(Podcast #41 was conducted and published on 4/23/2007)
***Note: We encourage EVERYONE to see a doctor before altering their diet, taking a supplement and/or performing athletic, fitness or other strenuous physical activity. It is your responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness and usefulness of any information, instruction, opinion or advice contained in the content. Please also see our complete disclaimer.***
Tags: flora london marathon, Haile Gebreselassie, Khalid Khannouchi, live race coverage, London Marathon, london2007, Meb Keflezighi, Stefano Baldini
Like what you see? Subscribe to our feed!
The Final Sprint
[…] Episode 41 of The Final Sprint Podcast features my post- London Marathon interview with 2004 Olympic marathon Silver medalist Meb Keflezighi. Meb, who also joined us a few days ago for Episode 40, was an American favorite at yesterday’s London Marathon and ran among the leaders until an injury forced him to withdraw from the race. […]
April 23rd, 2007 at 3:18 pm[…] Last Sunday at the Flora London Marathon, a day when the brutal weather forced many elites to drop out of the race, Ryan made a strong statement about his future in the marathon when he crushed Alberto Salazar and Alan Culpepper’s American debut record. […]
April 27th, 2007 at 7:50 am