Olympian Meb Keflezighi withdraws from NYC Half

U.S. Olympian Meb Keflezighi, the 2009 ING New York City Marathon champion, has withdrawn from Sunday's New York City Half-Marathon, New York Road Runners annoucned.

Keflezighi, who is training for April's Boston Marathon, cited tightness in his calves, NYRR said. The 2004 Olympic marathon silver medalist said that he and his coach decided he should withdraw from the race to avoid further injury.

"This has been one of the most difficult decisions in my career. I invested a lot of time and made many sacrifices to prepare for both the NYC Half and Boston Marathon," Keflezighi, 37, said in a statement. "My workouts indicated I had great fitness, but a recent setback in my training is keeping me from running the NYC Half."

Keflezighi won the U.S. Olympic team trials marathon in January 2012 and finished fourth in the Olympic Marathon in London last summer.

Several other 2012 U.S. Olympians are signed on for Sunday's race: Abdi Abdirahman, Dathan Ritzenhein, Janet Bawcom, and Bernard Lagat, who will be racing his first half-marathon.

The NYC Half is the Road Runners' flagship half-marathon. The race begins with one full loop of Central Park, heads south into Times Square, then shoots down the West Side Highway, and ends in Lower Manhattan.