Davila drops out of women’s marathon; Ethiopia’s Tiki Gelana wins

LONDON — U.S. marathoner Desiree Davila, who had been dealing with a hip flexor injury that hampered her training, dropped out of the Olympic marathon on Sunday.

The event was won by Tiki Gelana of Ethiopia in an Olympic-record time of two hours, 23 minutes and seven seconds. Priscah Jeptoo of Kenya was second in 2:23.12, and Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova of Russia was third in 2:23.29.

Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher of the U.S. were 10th and 11th, respectively. Flanagan finished in 2:25.51 and Goucher in 2:26.07.

Davila, who’s from Rochester, Mich., but trains at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, had finished second in the U.S. marathon trials earlier this year. There had been speculation that the injury might force Davila to withdraw before the race, but she went to the starting line.

“I came in a little bit injured. It has been taking the last month trying to work out with it and I was going close to it,” she said.

“When you go out there, you know, you tried to race hard, put yourself on the edge. And you know right away whether you will work through it or not. I could tell early on that it’s not going to happen today.”

Davila, 29, was one of three U.S. entrants. Flanagan and Goucher stayed on the course, which began and ended on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace.

“I will regroup and I am relatively young,” Davila said. “I have a long career ahead of me. I don’t want to compromise that. You just don’t try to tough out what you cannot tough out.”

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