Marc Scott has been forced to withdraw from the 2025 TCS London Marathon due to a knee injury.
The British athlete, who finished eleventh at the 2024 event has been suffering with the injury during training and does not feel he is prepared to reach the start line at this year’s event.
With the condition persisting, Scott has made the decision to focus on a full recovery in order to be able to race during the summer.
Scott, on his Instagram, said: “Training was going exceptionally well – I would argue that I was in the best shape of my life and that was exciting. The following day coming off the back of a fast long run I had an issue with my knee.
“Weeks later it was still giving me trouble and no matter the intervention, it didn’t settle in time to rescue the training we had missed. I’m not prepared to get on the line at London not being at my best.
“I know I’m capable of fast marathon, it’s in there somewhere and hopefully this fall I can prove that to myself. For now back to it when the body allows and get ready for some shorter racing this summer. Good luck to everyone in London.”
Scott made his marathon debut at the 2024 London Marathon in a time of 2:11:19, placing him as the third Brit behind Emile Cairess and Mahamed Mahamed. Since then, he has not competed in another marathon.
During his debut, he had his sights set on the Olympic qualifying time of 2:08:10 but as he told AW last year, it was a performance to “forget about and move on from.”
Scott has previously represented Great Britain at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics in both the 5000m and 10,000m. The following year, he shattered the European indoor 5000m record in Boston, clocking 12:57.08, and claimed a bronze medal in the 3000m at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade.
Marc Scott (David Hewitson)
At the start of this year, Scott appeared to be in excellent shape, running a 61:00 half marathon in Barcelona, just shy of his personal best of 60:39 from 2020.
His withdrawal follows a similar decision made by Cairess, who finished third at the 2024 London Marathon and went on to take fourth at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games marathon. He was forced to withdraw in February due to an ongoing ankle tendon injury,
Emile Cairess ruled out of London Marathon
Cairess had made his own marathon debut at the 2023 London Marathon, where he finished an impressive sixth in 2:08:07, setting a new record for the fastest British marathon debut.
Emile Cairess (LM Events)
The 27-year-old then went on to secure third place at last year’s London Marathon with a time of 2:06:46, making him the second-fastest British marathoner in history, just behind Mo Farah.
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