In less than four weeks, Mo Farah, of Great Britain, will make his marathon debut in London but his preparations could not have taken a more traumatic turn in New York on Sunday.
Farah was competing in the city’s half-marathon and after falling during the race, he then collapsed at the end after finishing second to Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai.
The double Olympic and World champion was immediately helped by the medical staff at the event and had to be taken away in a wheelchair.
He was able to go to the after-race press conference and provided assurances that he was well.
“I do remember sort of passing out,' said Farah. 'I tried so hard in the race, taking a fall...but I am all right. It's fine. It's not a big deal.”
Farah was tripped by accident as part of the leading pack just before the halfway stage, picking himself up but unable to challenge Mutai, who won in 1:00:50 with the Briton second in 1:01:07.
He added: 'I’m not sure what happened. I just remember sort of falling down and just hitting the ground quite hard. I just wanted to get back up and get with the group.
'It did take quite a lot out of me. My aim was to just close the gap slowly, but I couldn't quite close the gap. And then the last four miles I struggled a bit.
'I was just pretty much seeing stars. Everything was kind of blurred to me. I just wanted to keep going. I didn't want to stop and drop.”
Farah is likely now to have a medical check and will hope the drama of the event does not have an effect on his London plans.
It was a busy weekend of distance running and in Portugal, at the Lisbon half-Marathon, Italy’s Valeria Straneo, who was second in the marathon at last year’s IAAF World Championships in Moscow, achieved what she wanted as she was sixth in 1:00:47 as Kenya’s Workenesh Debele won in 1:00:46.
Straneo said: “I am in hard training for World Half Marathon Championships in Copenhagen (at the end of the month), so today I was not expecting an important time. It was a good test on the way to Denmark.”
Switzerland’s Viktor Rothlin, the European marathon champion from Barcelona in 2010 - the last time the race was staged at the event - is set to bid to defend his title in Zurich in August.
And at home on Saturday, he was the leading non-Kenyan in the 36th Kerzerslauf over 15km in Kerzers when he was 10th in 46:55 as Thomas Lokomwa won in 43:13.
Poland’s Wojciech Kopec won the Limassol Marathon in 2:17:27 and at the 34th Maraton de Barcelona, Latvia’s Renars Roze was leading European as he finished seventh in a personal best of 2:19:02 in a race won by Ethiopian Getachew Abayu in 2:10:45.
In Ferrara, Russia’s Mikhail Kulkov won the men’s marathon in 2:21:20 with Italy’s Claudia Gelsomino taking the women’s race in 2:49:43, while in Auch, France’s European Cross Country champion Sophie Duarte won the 10km road race in a personal best time of 31:53.
Germany’s Sabrina Mockenhaupt won the Salzkotten 10km road title in 32:29 and in Merida, Ayad Lamdassem was crowned Spain’s cross country champion with victory over 12km in 33:56, fending off the challenge of European champion Alemayehu Bezabeh, who was second in 34:06.
At the Austrian Cross Country Championships in Feistritz, Valentin Pfeil won the men’s 9,6km race in 29:33 and Lisa Perterer took the women’s 4.8km in 16:27.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Saturday – Dudinska Paldesjatka 50 (Dudince), Race Walking (Pomorie), XX Medio Maraton Azkoitia-Azpeitia Memorial Diego Garcia (Azpeitia).
Sunday – “Srednogorie” Cross Country (Pirdop), Half Marathon (Gibraltar), Maratona di Roma (Rome), Velika Gorica Half Marathon (Velika Gorica).