Olympic marathon gold medalist Naoko Takahashi has pulled out of the women's national corporate ekiden road relay due to unabated pain in her right knee, organizers said Saturday.
Yoshio Koide, coach of the Sekisui Chemical athletics club, said Takahashi was unable to recover fully from the injury in time for Sunday's ekiden race, to be held in her native Gifu Prefecture.
"I couldn't get enough time for practice runs to make the team. I'm disappointed because tomorrow's ekiden was one of my priority races for this year, along with the marathon races in Nagoya and Sydney," Takahashi said.