BAD ANKLE MAY HAMPER MOSOP IN CHICAGO
By David Monti
(c) 2011 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.

CHICAGO (07-Oct) -- The second fastest man ever over the standard marathon distance, Kenya's Moses Mosop, has been struggling with a sore tendon on the outside of his left ankle which he said today will likely hamper his performance in Sunday's Bank of America Chicago Marathon here.  The injury had already caused him to miss some training.

Mosop, who clocked 2:03:06 at last April's Boston Marathon before setting world records for 25,000m (1:12:25.0) and 30,000m (1:26:47.4) at the Prefontaine Classic last June, was surprisingly frank with reporters here today about his condition. 

"For me this time I'm saying I'm not in good shape," he told Race Results Weekly in a brief interview.  "I have a leg problem."

When asked to specify the location of the problem, the 26 year-old Kenyan pointed to the outside of his left ankle and began to rub the area with his finger.  He then replied "I'm not sure" when asked if the tendon would hold through a 42-kilometer race.

"We will try on Sunday," he said.

Mosop's coach, Renato Canova, told Race Results Weekly yesterday that his athlete had missed a month of training, and that he was not in the same kind of shape as when he ran Boston or Prefontaine.  Canova said that his athlete in his best form could run four consecutive 29-minute 10-K's during a marathon in ideal conditions which would produce a 2:02:22 result.

"But not now," he said.

PHOTO: Moses Mosop after setting the world 25,000m and 30,000m records at the Prefontaine Classic in June, 2011, in Eugene, Ore. (photo by David Monti for Race Results Weekly)