Bad news for the organizers of the London Marathon. The highly long-awaited duel between Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele and kenyan Eliud Kipchoge this Sunday will never happen.

The non-happening is due to Ethiopian withdrawal from the competition. Bekele has to give up the event because of a calf injury. “This race was so important to me. My stay in Berlin last year gave me a lot of confidence and motivation. And I was looking forward to showing it again. I worked so hard for it.” He declared in a video.

Bekele’s presence in London heralded a duel between the two fastest runners in history on the marathon. The world record now belongs to Kenyan Kipchoge since October 2019.