Emile Cairess has made the decision to withdraw from the 2025 TCS London Marathon and focus on a full recovery.
He said: “I was really looking forward to racing the world’s best marathon runners at this year’s TCS London Marathon 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 build-up 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 made his debut over 26.2 miles at the 2023 TCS London Marathon where he finished sixth in a time of 2:08:07, becoming the fastest British debutant of all time over the famous distance. He followed that up by finishing third at last year’s TCS London Marathon in a time of 2:06:46, making him the second-fastest British marathon runner of all time behind Sir Mo Farah.
The elite men’s race at the 2025 TCS London Marathon will include the legendary duo of Eliud Kipchoge (KEN) and Kenenisa Bekele (ETH), Olympic champion Tamirat Tola (ETH), new world half marathon record holder Jacob Kiplimo and defending champion Alex Mutiso (KEN). British interest includes Olympic triathlon champion Alex Yee and Paris Olympians Mahamed Mahamed and Phil Sesemann.
There has also been a British withdrawal in the elite women’s race where Lucy Reid, who was set to make her TCS London Marathon debut after running 2:26:35 on her marathon debut in Malaga last December, has been forced to pull out due to an injury.
The elite women’s field will include, for the first time in history, three women with personal bests of faster than 2:14 with world record holder Ruth Chepngetich (KEN), Olympic champion Sifan Hassan (NED), and Tigst Assefa (ETH) all lining up. Other athletes in the field include reigning champion Peres Jepchirchir (KEN) and Britain’s Eilish McColgan, who is set to make her long-awaited TCS London Marathon debut.