Posted: May 19, 2004

Athletics: Khannouchi Signs Four-Year Deal At Chicago

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

Organizers of the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon announced this morning that U.S. marathon record holder, Khalid Khannouchi of Ossining, N.Y., has signed a four-year agreement to run their marathon beginning in 2004.

"I have been in intense training for the past eight weeks and now feel that I can compete at the level I expect of myself for a full marathon," said Khannouchi in a press release. The former world record holder missed last year's race --and the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials Men's Marathon last February-- because of injuries. Because he missed the Trials, Khannouchi will not be running in the Olympic Games this summer in Athens.

Khannouchi has won at Chicago four times: 1997 (2:07:10), 1999 (2:05:42), 2000 (2:07:01) and 2002 (2:05:56). His 1999 performance was a thrilling come-from-behind effort where he set the world record. He lowered his own record at London in 2002 (2:05:38), but Kenyan Paul Tergat surpassed it last September in Berlin (2:04:55).

The Moroccan-born Khannouchi will be competing against Kenyan Evans Rutto, the defending Chicago champion and the recently crowned London champion.

The race takes place on Sunday, 10-Oct.

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