Waitz Injured, Will Not Compete in L.A.

Norway’s Grete Waitz, the silver medalist in the 1984 Olympic women’s marathon and a seven-time winner of the New York City Marathon, told The Times Thursday that she has reinjured her knee and definitely will not run in the Los Angeles Marathon March 9.

In a phone interview from Bermuda, where she had planned to spend several weeks training, Waitz said she has been unable to run for a week because of a ligament injury. She said she injured the knee when she fell during a training run in New York last July, then recently fell and reinjured the knee while running over snow in Seattle.

Waitz, 32, won the 1985 New York City Marathon and had planned to run in the Los Angeles race. Organizers here are offering a $50,000 bonus to the person who can win both the New York and Los Angeles marathons.

“After New York, the Los Angeles Marathon was the one I had considered,” Waitz said. “I wanted to run a spring race. Right now, it is out of the question. I haven’t been able to train (because of the injury), and I would need more time to build up.

“The doctors have injected cortisone (an anti-inflammatory drug) in it, and I will see if I can run Saturday. It is difficult to get a knee healthy; a knee is very complicated. It’s frustrating. I’m here and the weather is perfect, and I can’t train.”