German marathon record holder Samuel Fitwi will not compete at the world championships in Tokyo in Japan because he prefers to run a big and lucrative city marathon in autumn.
“I won’t run at the worlds and have agreed this with the (German athletics federation) DLV. I will be competing in a big marathon in the autumn,” Fitwi said in an interview on the website of the German athletics body DLV on Tuesday.
“But the final decision as to where has not yet been made.”
The men’s marathon in Tokyo is scheduled for September 15, and many other top athletes will have to make similar decisions.
The big Berlin Marathon is six days later, with Chicago on October 12 and New York on November 2 other major autumn events over the 42.195km distance.
Fitwi came 15th at last year’s Paris Olympics, and qualified for the worlds when he bettered the German record by two seconds to 2 hours 4 minutes 56 seconds last December in Valencia.
Fitwi said he wants to improve to 2:03 hours over the next two years but that this won’t be his focus in autumn.
“I am concentrating on a good race in autumn. I want to run a good time, but the focus is not on a personal best,” he said.
AloJapan.com