Athletics: Khannouchi forced to pull out of London Marathon

Khalid Khannouchi will not defend his London Marathon title this year after organisers yesterday confirmed the world-record holder had withdrawn from the 13 April race because of a severe case of tonsillitis.

Khannouchi ran the world's fastest marathon last year to win in 2hr 5min 38sec.

"I'm afraid I won't be strong enough by 13 April," Khannouchi said in a statement.

The Moroccan-born American said he fell ill in Japan last month while preparing for the Kyoto City half-marathon. He was cleared by doctors to race there on 6 March and won in a time of 62min 15sec.

"On my arrival back in New York, I got sick again," he said.

The London Marathon director, David Bedford, said the Olympic and world champion, Gezahegne Abera, of Ethiopia, and Kenya's Paul Tergat were still in the field.

Paula Radcliffe, the women's marathon world-record holder, could cap a memorable year by winning an accolade at the Laureus World Sports Awards in May.

The Briton swept to 5,000m Commonwealth Games gold in Manchester in July and went on to capture the 10,000m European title in Munich a month later. Radcliffe, winner of the 2002 Flora London Marathon, smashed the world record when winning the Chicago Marathon at the end of the year in 2hr 17min 18sec – chipping 89 seconds off the previous best time.

Michael Johnson, the American 400m legend, will attend the London section of the award announcements next week. Johnson, who is a member of the Laureus World Sports Academy, said: "I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Paula's is one of the names in the envelope."