Knee injury is “the final crack in the armour” as Scot is forced to postpone her 26.2-mile debut once more

An emotional Eilish McColgan has been forced to withdraw from Sunday’s TCS London Marathon.

The 32-year-old, who has broken the British 10,000m and half marathon records already this year, had been due to make her debut over 26.2 miles this weekend but said a “bad storm” of factors, topped off by a knee injury, had combined to stop her from making the start line.

This is the second time that McColgan, who was also unable to run the previous edition of the London Marathon in October due to fitness problems, has had to pull out and her frustration was evident.

“I’ve tried. Trust me, I’ve tried but it’s just got to the point where it’s not going to be feasible to run a marathon this weekend,” said the 10,000m Commonwealth champion, who revealed she also tore her hamstring during her recent record-breaking half marathon run in Berlin.

“There are a few factors that have all come together like a bad storm. This hasn’t been just the knee, there’s been a whole host of stuff over the last three weeks, which has just built up and built up. This knee thing has been like the final crack in the armour.

“Of course, I’m disappointed. I wanted to be there on the start line. I know I’m ready to run a good marathon. I know the shape that I’m in right now and I think that’s probably what makes it hard to not just be on the start line and give it a go.”

The hamstring tear three weeks ago is where doubts began to surface about McColgan’s participation in London and she admitted the “will I run, won’t I run?” situation had taken a toll.

“I said I would always be open and honest about my journey and there have been times where we’ve thought, ‘we’re running London’, and then ‘we’re not running London’. That’s been the process over this last three weeks. In Berlin, I felt it [my hamstring] go with a kilometre to go and it turned out to be a tear. Initially, I thought ‘that’s it, London’s out’ but we managed to rehab it and I felt confident then about London again.”

It was at that point, however, when McColgan insists she came up against another hurdle.

“I was then hit with a further roadblock, having been told I wouldn’t be allowed to race due to a sponsor clash between myself and London Marathon’s sponsor,” she wrote in a social media statement. “I do not doubt that the major marathon contracts will be updated in future years, (most likely once the bigger-named athletes are involved). But it needs to change to give athletes the chance to be financially stable. And they certainly should not be restricted as to what races they can or cannot do, purely because of a logo on their chest!”

Speaking on a media call, she continued: “I’ve had a few disagreements with London Marathon themselves regarding the contractual side of things. It was ‘what do we do now?’ Do we find another marathon? Do I find another race? Can I do it? Can I not do it?’.

“I think [with] all of that – the stress and just everything – my body’s then said: ‘Look, you’ve had enough now. You’re trying to make everybody happy. You’re trying to push yourself to the limit as well of being fit and healthy on the day’. And I think it’s just all come to a halt.”

For that to happen on the eve of the big day and a discipline in which there are high hopes about what McColgan might be able to achieve, has been particularly hard to take.

“It’s frustrating because I’m so close to it,” added McColgan. “I can see the start line and I’m not going to be there. Thankfully, the knee is nothing serious. I’ve got a lot of inflammation in the fat pad to the side of my knee and there’s an impingement there. The impingement is what is really causing my pain.

“We’ve spoken about all the options. Do you get an injection into it and do you just go and do it? And I just thought, for this point in my career, I’m not taking like any unnecessary risks. As much as I really want to be in London, I don’t want to put my long-term career at risk, either.

“Having trained so hard to be there, it’s sad. I’m not going to lie, I’ve shed a lot of tears for the last two days. It is what it is. My dad keeps reminding me there will always be another London Marathon. All elite athletes go through this. I just hope one day I will be on that start line and I know that it’ll be worth it in the end. I know I can run a good marathon and I know that one day it will be at London.”