Keira D’Amato withdraws from London Marathon After Knee Problem

Keira D’Amato has decided to skip the London Marathon, after inflammation in her left knee in January set her training for the April race back by a few weeks.

D’Amato, 38, said in a phone call with Runner’s World that she tweaked her knee and instead of trying to run through it, she decided to take a couple of days off. Those days turned into a couple of weeks, long enough she would have had to rush her London buildup.

She’s done marathons off of shorter training cycles, including twice last year. She ran the New York City Marathon in November just six weeks after the Berlin Marathon. In New York, she ran 2:31:31—after running 2:21:48 Berlin.

She was also a last-minute replacement for Molly Seidel at the 2022 World Championships in July in Eugene, Oregon. D’Amato finished eighth in 2:23:34, despite being named to U.S. team less than three weeks earlier.

Having done those rushed marathons, D’Amato said, “I want to make sure my next one is totally right.”

She had X-rays and an MRI on her knee—both were negative. She then spent a few days at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, where she had her form and balance evaluated to make sure nothing structural was contributing to her knee pain. The evaluations turned up nothing.

“I crossed my Ts and dotted my Is,” D’Amato said. “It was a little bit of freak thing.”

She hopes her next marathon will be at the World Championships in August in Hungary. The team will be selected by a descending order time list for marathons run between December 1, 2021, and May 30, 2023. D’Amato has the second-fastest time on the list currently, 2:19:12, from her American record in January 2022 in Houston.

Emily Sisson, who is planning to run London, has the fastest time, 2:18:29. She broke D’Amato’s record in October in Chicago. The idea of a head-to-head matchup between the country’s two fastest marathoners in London had fans excited.

D’Amato, however, is looking forward. She is beginning her build now for August, and she hopes if it goes well, she’ll be racing at shorter distances on the roads through the spring and summer. She feels she has more great marathon performances in her.

posted Thursday March 16th
by Sarah Lorge Butler