Bashir Abdi Withdraws From the Chicago Marathon Six Days Before the Race

Bashir Abdi has pulled out of Sunday’s Chicago Marathon after tearing his calf in the last days of his preparation. The 37-year-old Belgian, who holds the European record and won Olympic medals in Tokyo and Paris, was added to the elite field on Sept. 22 as Alex Masai withdrew, and on Monday he told his followers on X that he would not make the start.

“A small calf tear during my final training in Flagstaff means I won’t be making it to the start line,” Abdi wrote. “Disappointing after months of preparation but recovery comes first.”

He had spent the build at altitude, first in Font-Romeu in the French Pyrenees and then in Arizona, where the injury came in his final track session, according to Atletieknieuws. The Belgian site described the tear as minor.

Chicago would have been his fourth start in the city, and he has finished in the top five there twice:

• 2019: fifth in 2:06:14, a Belgian record at the time
• 2023: third in 2:04:32, behind Kelvin Kiptum’s 2:00:35 world record and Benson Kipruto
• 2025: 10th in 2:07:08, his first marathon in almost a year

Reaching that start line had taken him most of a year. His 2024 began with a stress fracture in his sacrum, and after taking silver at the Paris Olympics in 2:06:47 and finishing ninth in New York that November, he fell and broke the fifth metatarsal in his foot. He had surgery on Nov. 28, 2024, Sporza reported, and injuries kept him out of racing for most of 2025.

Abdi opened 2026 in March at Bashir’s Run, the half-marathon in his hometown of Ghent that carries his name, and crossed the line believing he had run 59:28 for a Belgian record. A remeasurement later found the timing mat had sat about 200 meters short of the real finish, and his time was corrected to 1:00:06, still the second-fastest half of his career.

He went to the Rotterdam Marathon in April wanting to improve his own European record of 2:03:36, set on the same course in 2021, and he was in front at halfway in 1:01:36. With about 4K to go, his left calf cramped, and he had to stop more than once before finishing third in 2:04:19, the third-fastest marathon of his career. “I can be satisfied after a difficult year. I am happy with 2:04,” he said afterward. Guye Adola, who beat him that day in 2:03:54, has since won the Berlin Marathon in a personal best of 2:02:50.

Abdi was the fifth-fastest man on the Chicago start list by personal best. Even without him, the men’s race keeps six runners who have broken 2:04, led by defending champion Jacob Kiplimo, whose personal best of 2:00:28 is seven seconds quicker than Kiptum’s course record. Masai, who finished third here last October, had already left the field, and American Clayton Young is still planning to race on a torn hamstring tendon. Our complete guide to the race has the full fields, start times and how to watch.

Abdi has not said what comes next beyond the line that closed his post: “Time to heal and focus on the next goal.” Atletieknieuws reported that a second marathon before the end of the year has not been ruled out, with New York in November and Valencia in December both possible depending on how quickly the calf recovers.