Brigid Kosgei was the one who took the historic marathon record from Paula Radcliffe in 2019. This is a major setback for Kenya as the injury will prevent the former marathon world record holder from competing in the 42.192km event at Paris 2024. After completing her training, she underwent medical tests.

"During one of the regular monitoring sessions, Olympic silver medallist Brigid Kosgei raised an injury concern with the technical team," the Kenyan Olympic Committee said in a statement. "After a review by the medical team led by the Chief Medical Officer... For her second Olympic Games, Kosgei will not be travelling to Paris." The nature of the injury was not specified.

Kosgei will be replaced by Sharon Lokedi, the 2022 New York Marathon champion. The women's marathon in Paris will take place on 11 August. This is the day after the men's race and on the final day of the Games.

The news was made public this Wednesday after it was announced by the athlete's official team. Kosgei was one of the medal favourites following her Olympic silver at Tokyo 2020. She joins defending champion Peres Jepchirchir and former Olympic 5000m silver medallist Hellen Obiri, who is making the transition to the marathon distance, in Kenya's always strong squad.

Kosgei will always be known as the woman who broke the historic record from Radcliffe, ending its 16-year reign. Kosgei slashed the British record to under 2 hours and 15 minutes. It happened on Sunday 13 October at the 2019 Chicago Marathon, with a time of 02:14:04.

Kosgei had already been a surprise in 2017 with a second place finish in Chicago and a new personal record of 2:20:22. However, it was again in Chicago where she ran the third fastest time in Chicago history, 2:18:35, as a solo runner, with only Paula Radcliffe and Tirunesh Dibaba having run faster.

She did not stop there, continuing to break records and set new standards. She won in London in 2019, becoming the youngest woman to do so, with a new PB of 2:18:20. Since 2019, Kosgei has been dominant. She has won the Honolulu Marathon twice and finished eighth in the 2017 Boston Marathon, the oldest of the majors. 

Kenya's marathon team is also one of the strongest in the men's category. Two-time Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge is the favourite to win the final race after Kiptum's unfortunate disappearance. Both the men and women have been preparing for the Olympic event for the past two months at the Rift Valley Athletics Centre in Eldoret.