Yomif Kejelcha Withdraws From Valencia Marathon Due To Injury

Yomif Kejelcha will not run the Valencia Marathon on December 6th due to an ongoing injury, race organizers announced today. The Ethiopian, who ran 1:59:41 on his debut in London in April and holds the half marathon world record, was the biggest name in the stacked men’s field.

The announcement did not share details of the injury, or expected recovery time.

“Sometimes sport is like that. I need to stop now, recover well and work hard to be back on the start line soon,” Kejelcha said in a statement, published in Spanish on Instagram. Organizers wished him a quick recovery and said they hoped to see him at a future edition.

The news comes just three days after World Athletics ratified the 56:51 he ran at the Buenos Aires Half Marathon in August, and just 3 weeks before the Valencia Marathon.

Valencia would have been his second marathon. In London this year, he finished 11 seconds behind Sabastian Sawe, who won in a world record 1:59:30, on the day the two men became the first to break two hours in a record-eligible race. Kejelcha’s time is the fastest marathon debut on record and the second-fastest marathon ever run.

It means neither man who broke two hours in London will run another marathon this year. Sawe pulled out of the Berlin Marathon with an injury in September, so has raced only once in 2026.

Valencia had built its race around Kejelcha. Juan Manuel Botella, the race’s chief executive, told Marathon Handbook in May that the booking was the result of two years of talks with Kejelcha’s team, and that the goal was not simply to win. “He wouldn’t come to a marathon like Valencia to easily win in 2:03, nor would we hire him to run at 95%,” Botella said. Kejelcha set his first half-marathon world record on the same streets, running 57:30 at the Valencia Half Marathon in October 2024.

The race still carries a €1 million bonus for a world record, and this year’s regulations set the men’s mark at 1:59:30. Without Kejelcha, no man in the announced field has run under two hours.

John Korir Now the Man to Beat

John Korir, the defending champion, becomes the favorite for December 6th. The Kenyan won Valencia last December in 2:02:24, which remains his official personal best, and ran 2:01:52 to win the Boston Marathon in April, a course record, however World Athletics does not recognize times on Boston’s point-to-point course for records or personal bests. In September, Korir told Kenya’s The Star that his “prayer is to run sub-two hours” at Valencia.

Filling out the men’s elite field, organizers have announced Alexander Mutiso (2:03:11), Dawit Wolde (2:03:48), Nibret Melak (2:04:00), 2018 winner Leul Gebreselassie (2:04:02) and Norway’s Awet Kibrab (2:04:24), who finished third last year. The course record is Sisay Lemma’s 2:01:48 from 2023.

The women’s race is unaffected and has its own record target. Fotyen Tesfay, who ran 2:10:51 in Barcelona in March, the second-fastest women’s marathon in history, leads a field that includes defending champion Joyciline Jepkosgei (2:14:00) and 10K world record holder Agnes Ngetich, who will make her marathon debut. The women’s world record bonus is set at Ruth Chepngetich’s 2:09:56.

Kejelcha, 29, has had the best year of his career on the roads, with his London debut in April and his second half-marathon world record in Buenos Aires in August. He also holds the road 10K world record of 26:31. The statement gave no indication of when he plans to race again.