Mo Farah pulls out of London Marathon with hip injury

LONDON (AP) — Four-time Olympic gold medalist Mo Farah has pulled out of Sunday’s London Marathon because of a hip injury.

The 39-year-old Farah said he injured his right hip in training and will not be fit in time for the race.

“I’ve been training really hard over the past few months and I’d got myself back into good shape and was feeling pretty optimistic about being able to put in a good performance,” the British runner said. “However, over the past 10 days I’ve been feeling pain and tightness in my right hip. I’ve had extensive physio and treatment and done everything I can to be on the start line but it hasn’t improved enough to compete on Sunday.”

Farah, who won Olympic gold in the 5,000 and 10,000-meter races in London and Rio de Janeiro, was set to compete in his first marathon since 2019. He won the warmup race The Big Half earlier this month.

Farah said he still hopes to run in the 2023 London Marathon, when the race switches back to its traditional date in April.

___

More AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports