Vincent Kipchumba may be down but certainly not out.
It has always been his dream to finally win the world’s most prestigious marathon, but the 32-year-old distance runner will once again miss this year’s London Marathon scheduled for Sunday.
Kipchumba, who has finished second twice in the British capital, has revealed that he has just recovered from a knee injury, hence not ready for the grueling marathon.
This will be the second time Kipchumba is missing the London Marathon after a recurring leg frame injury knocked him out last year’s race.
It’s the same injury that also saw the Kapsabet-based distance runner withdraw from the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games held in August, 2021.
“I was preparing so well, having completely healed from the frame injury only to go down again with a knee injury this time round,” said Kipchumba.
“I was really determined not to finish second again in London but this is so frustrating.”
Kipchumba had made a return after 17 months to finish 14th at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon on February 18 this year before the knee injury crept in.
Kipchumba made his World Marathon Majors (WMM) debut in London in 2020 where he clocked two hours, five minutes and 42 seconds to finish second, losing to Ethiopia’s Shura Kitala by 16 seconds in 2:05:58.
Kipchumba, 2019 Amsterdam and Vienna Marathon champion, would return to the British capital the following year where he improved his personal best to 2:04:28, but still settled second again behind another Ethiopian Sisay Lemma, who clocked 2:04:01.
It would be his last marathon race as he stayed out of action for the better part of last year, only making his first appearance at Ras Al Khaimah in February this year.
“I will not lose hope and I believe my time will come. I will one day win in London and also get to represent Kenya for the first time too. I want to heal properly first before I can plan my next race,”said Kipchumba, who is handled by Claudio Berardelli.
Kipchumba’s exit now leaves three Kenyan men in the race- defending champion Amos Kipruto, Kelvin Kiptum and Geoffrey Kamworor.
The race will for the first time in history have two men, who have run inside two hours and two minutes- Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele, who is the second fastest man in marathon history with 2:01:41 and Kiptum (2:01:53).
