Emile Cairess’s hopes of becoming the fastest British runner over 26.2 miles have been put on hold after he was forced to pull out of the London Marathon with an ankle injury.
Cairess, who finished third in the race last year before coming fourth in the Paris Olympics, had been targeting Mo Farah’s national record of 2hr 5min 11sec. However, he will now miss April’s race due to an ongoing ankle tendon issue.
“I was really looking forward to racing the world’s best marathon runners and to build on the progress I have made over the marathon distance,” the 27-year-old athlete said.
“It is an absolutely stacked elite men’s field at this year’s event which makes it a really hard one to miss. But, unfortunately, a setback in my buildup has persisted which has significantly impacted the consistency of training that is required to be at my best. My focus now is recovering properly, getting back to full training and returning to racing as soon as possible.”
Cairess became the fastest British debutant of all time in 2023 when he ran the marathon in 2:08:07 and he followed it up with a time of 2:06:46 in the race last year – making a shot at Farah’s record a legitimate goal. However, the elite fields of both races are still incredibly strong, with new world half-marathon record-holder Jacob Kiplimo facing the defending champion Alex Mutiso, the former world record-holder Eliud Kipchoge and the Olympic champion Tamirat Tola.
The elite women’s field, meanwhile, includes the world-record holder Ruth Chepngetich, the Olympic champion Sifan Hassan and the former world record-holder Tigst Assefa. There is also strong British interest in both races with the Olympic triathlon champion Alex Yee and the Commonwealth 10,000m champion Eilish McColgan running their first marathons.
Meanwhile, the Kenyan marathon runner Brimin Kipkorir has been provisionally suspended after he tested positive for the banned blood booster EPO. Kipkorir won the Sydney Marathon in 2024 in a course-record time of 2:06:18, and the Frankfurt Marathon in 2022 and 2023.
