From race press release.

CHICAGO , IL - Khalid Khannouchi has withdrawn from next month's 2003 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. With four first-place feats, including a world record-setting performance in 1999, Khannouchi's dominance in Chicago will have to wait at least one more year.

Khannouchi, 31, the fastest marathon runner in history, contacted executive race director Carey Pinkowski to personally inform him of his decision. He made the call from Limerick, Ireland, where he is currently receiving treatment from Gerard Hartmann, a world-renowned physical therapist.

"I was truly disappointed that Khalid would not be able to compete this year," Pinkowski said. "His presence will be missed. He has been a great ambassador for our event, the City of Chicago and marathoning."

Khannouchi has a nagging injury that hasn't allowed him to train with the same intensity as in years past. This would have been Khannouchi's sixth LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. He won in 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2002, and placed second in 1998. Khannouchi will be in town marathon weekend in an entirely unfamiliar role, watching the race as the most experienced spectator from the grandstands rather than from his most familiar position of crossing the finish line tape.

"I was looking forward to another competitive performance in Chicago, but a minor injury is forcing me to reduce the intensity of my training," Khannouchi said. "As a result I have to withdraw from the 2003 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon."

This also comes at a unique time for Khannouchi and other athletes knowing the Olympic Trials are fast approaching in Birmingham, Ala. (February 2004) and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Khannouchi's focus is now on the Trials and the Olympics.

"If I ran the Chicago Marathon I might risk my chances to participate in the Olympic Trials as well as loosing my hope to make the Olympic Team," Khannouchi said. "The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon will be there every year and I will have another chance to come back and give the performance Chicago deserves."

With Khannouchi leaving the field of elite athletes, the 2003 Chicago race will still have another impressive men's field. Top male athletes announced so far include Abdelkader El Mouaziz, Rod Dehaven, Mike Donnelly, Dan Browne and Jeff Schiebler.

El Mouaziz, 34, and two-time London Marathon winner, will return to Chicago for a second time, and hopes to challenge the world record held by Khannouchi. Rod DeHaven, 36, a former Olympian from Madison, Wisc., who set his personal best marathon time in Chicago with a 2:11:40 performance in the 2001 race, sees the Marathon as a tune up for the upcoming Trials.

Others already have secured the qualifying time and will compete in Chicago to stay competitive leading up to the trials, but like DeHaven, Donnelly, 26, and Schiebler, 30, have Olympic aspirations. Browne, 28, set his personal best in the Twin Cities Marathon with a time of 2:11:35, which coined him the 2002 USA marathon champion and gave him the Olympic "A" standard qualifying time to compete in the trials for the 2004 Olympics.

Elite athletes will compete this fall for the highest marathon purse ever, $550,000. The male and female winners each will earn $100,000, the largest first place payout in the sport. The 2003 LaSalle Bank

Chicago Marathon begins Sunday, October 12 at 8 a.m., starting and finishing in Chicago's Grant Park and registration has recently been closed since reaching the cap of 40,000 participants.

For more information, check out www.chicagomarathon.com