Kenyan athlete latest to drop out of London Marathon

Just days after Sifan Hassan pulled out of this year’s London Marathon, another star athlete has withdrawn from the race due to injury.

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This comes after Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir on Tuesday, 14 April, announced that she was a late scratch from the Sunday, 26 April, race, with an unspecified stress fracture.

In a statement, the 32-year-old said she was short of training, this after suffering a setback with a second-place finish at the Valencia Marathon last December.

“I was only ​able to resume training in late January,” Jepchirchir said. “I know that to ​be competitive at the London Marathon, you ‌have ⁠to be at your top level, and despite my best efforts, I’m just short ​of that ​due ⁠to my lack of training."

The announcement marks the second year in a row the 2025 World Champion has skipped the event, after sustaining an ankle injury last year.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion joins Hassan in the list of withdrawals, days after picking up an Achilles injury while training on a treadmill in the build-up.

Sifan Hassan explains withdrawing from London Marathon

The duo’s absence leaves the London Marathon field short of two star athletes, who won the 2023 and 2024 editions.

Jepchirchir won the 2024 event in a women's-only world-record time of two hours 16 minutes and 16 seconds, a year after Dutchwoman Hassan had recovered to win in 2:18.33.

With no replacements announced by the race organisers, the event will be spearheaded by the trio of Hellen Obiri, Joyciline Jepkosgei and defending champion Tigst Assefa.

Obiri, an Olympic bronze medallist from Paris two years ago, will be making her London Marathon debut after setting a New York Marathon course record of 2:19.51 late last year.

Jepkosgei, on the other hand, comes in fresh from winning the Valencia Marathon in a world-leading time of 2:14.00.