Kenenisa Bekele out, Geoffrey Mutai in for London Marathon

Kenenisa Bekele, the world record holder over 5,000m and 10,000m on the track, has withdrawn from the London Marathon due to an Achilles tendon injury, but at the same time Organizers announced the star’s withdrawal, they announced two more high-profile additions to the elite fields.

“Unfortunately, I have had to pull out of this year’s Virgin Money London Marathon because of the problems I had while running in Dubai,” the Ethiopian said in a press release. “I desperately wanted to run in London this year, but the injury to my Achilles has not healed sufficiently for me to compete against such a great field.”

Geoffrey Mutai of Kenyan, The New York City and Boston course record holder, will race in London on April 26. The 33-year-old was originally expected the race the Tokyo Marathon in February but withdrew at the last minute citing injury.

In the women’s race, Aselefech Mergia will line up with the other elites. She won the notoriously-deep Dubai Marathon in January in her first race back after pregnancy. Her personal best of 2:19:31 the eighth fastest of all time but is only the third fastest in the field, showing the calibre of this year’s London Marathon.

The London Marathon has become known in recent years for putting together some of the strongest elite fields ever assembled and 2015 will not be any different, many of the fastest men and women ever set to race.