September 22, 2021
(Reuters) – Kenya’s Mary Keitany, the world record holder for a women-only marathon, announced her retirement on Wednesday at the age of 39 due to a back injury.
Keitany set the record in her third London Marathon win in 2017, finishing in a time of two hours 17 minutes and one second. Her compatriot Brigid Kosgei and Briton Paula Radcliffe are the only two women to have run a marathon quicker, having done so in mixed gender races.
Keitany said the COVID-19 pandemic had denied her the chance to receive treatment for a back injury sustained in 2019.
“I’m sad to say, a back injury that I suffered in late 2019 made a decision about my retirement for me,” Keitany said in a statement https://ift.tt/3zBTCDU.
“I couldn’t get the treatment I wanted in Europe because of the pandemic-related travel restrictions last year and every time I thought I had got over the injury and started training hard, it became a problem again.
“So now is the time to say goodbye — if only as an elite runner – to the sport I love so much.”
Keitany won the New York Marathon four times, including three consecutive victories between 2014-16, and the world half marathon title in 2009. She finished fourth at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
Source Link Athletics-Marathon world record holder Keitany announces retirement
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