NAIROBI, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Former Chicago marathon champion Florence Kiplagat of Kenya will not defend her Barcelona Half Marathon title on Feb 11.
Kiplagat, who broke the world record in Barcelona in 2014 and 2015, has not fully recovered from her muscular crump injury, which she sustained in Chicago in October.
"I have been in rehabilitation to get the muscular crump injury healed. It has kept me away from competing in many events but it is getting better. My body didn't respond well in Chicago and I have had enough time to rest. I have started light training," she said.
Kiplagat planned to return to action in late January, but was a no-show during the Kenya Police cross country championships and is not convinced her body will be able to weather the challenge in Barcelona and wants to give it more time to be fully fit.
In her absence, organizers of the Barcelona Half Marathon have called up several top names to try and break her course record. In 2015, Kiplagat set a new world record of 1:05:09 by shaving three seconds off her previous world record of 1:05.12.
The world record has since been improved by Kenyan Joyciline Jepkosgei to 1:04:51 in Valencia.
Kenya's Susan Kipsang, who holds a personal best time of 69:02 in the half marathon, will be the athlete to beat in Barcelona. However, she will face stiff competition from Bahrain's Mimi Belete (69:15).
The top names in the men's race include Uganda's Moses Kurong (59:50), Kenya's Meshack Koech (60:07), Ethiopians Mule Wasihun (60:08) and Azmeraw Mengistu (60:48).
Switzerland's Julian Wanders (61:43) and Ethiopia's Tejitu Daba (68:21) are also in the running.
