As global life as we know it continues to be more and more restricted due to the coronavirus pandemic, the cancellation or postponement of any upcoming spring sporting events seems inevitable. So it is no surprise that the 2020 London Marathon, originally scheduled for April 26, has been postponed until October 4.

The 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon has been postponed and is now scheduled to take place on Sunday 4 October 2020.

Full statement: https://t.co/Jw0EbptGgw#LondonMarathon pic.twitter.com/r18eXLmZSH

— Virgin Money London Marathon (@LondonMarathon) March 13, 2020

A day after the Boston Marathon postponed their race until September, London is taking a similar course in order to maintain one of the world’s biggest road races.

Of course, we don’t yet know how the postponement will affect the elite fields, but logic says that the six month delay will have a tremendous impact. If the Olympics go ahead as planned August, which right now is a huge if, London would be asking several top marathoners to run two races within two months.

That includes the world’s preeminent marathoner, Eliud Kipchoge, who was scheduled to defend his title in London this year against Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele in one of the most hyped races in the sport’s history. Kipchoge is also slated to run the Olympic marathon on Aug. 9.

Amidst such a serious outbreak, the postponement of a race is on the bottom of the list of important details, but that doesn’t make the sting of this sentence hurt any less: the two fastest marathoners in history racing each other at the peak of their powers is now in serious jeopardy.