Injury forces Emile Cairess out of London Marathon, crashes British hopes

Emile Cairess’ goal of becoming the fastest British runner over 26.2 miles has been delayed after he was forced to withdraw from the London Marathon due to an ankle injury. 

The athlete, who finished third in last year’s London Marathon and fourth in the Paris Olympics, had been aiming to break Mo Farah’s national record of 2 hours, 5 minutes, and 11 seconds. However, he will now miss the race in April due to a lingering ankle tendon issue. 

Cairess said, “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… 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’ journey to the record

The athlete made history in 2023 by becoming the fastest British debutant, running the marathon in 2:08:07. He improved on that with a time of 2:06:46 in last year’s race, making a serious attempt to beat Mo Farah’s record. 

The competition remains competitive, with top runners like new world half-marathon record-holder Jacob Kiplimo, defending champion Alex Mutiso, former world record-holder Eliud Kipchoge, and Olympic champion Tamirat Tola on the roster. 

The elite women’s field features world-record holder Ruth Chepngetich, Olympic triathlon champion Sifan Hassan, and former world record holder Tigst Assefa. There is also strong British interest in both races, with Olympic triathlon champion Alex Yee and Commonwealth 10,000m champion Eilish McColgan making their marathon debuts.