Morocco's triple world 1,500m champion Hicham El Guerrouj has decided to miss the rest of the indoor season for health reasons, the Moroccan press agency MAP reported today.
After pulling out of last weekend's meeting in Ghent, Belgium, El Guerrouj also decided not to compete in Birmingham, England.
"I decided to pull out of these two meetings because of lack of training for several days and for health reasons," he said. He is also believed to have suffered severe flu recently.
El Guerrouj holds both the outdoor 1,500m record of 3min 26.00sec and the indoor mark of 3min 31.18sec, earned in Rome in 1998 and Stuttgart a year earlier.
He added he has been doing regular training at Ifrane, Morocco, which is at 1,600m altitude, with the help of coach Abdelkader Kadar in preparation for the outdoor season.
He is expected to compete next at either the Doha meeting on May 15th or the Eugene, Oregan event on May 26th - both IAAF Grand Prix events. El Guerrouj has also said he is determined to break his outdoor record this year.
AFP