Dieudonne Disi  has blamed cramp in his right thigh for his failure to finish the IAAF World Championships marathon in Berlin last Saturday.

The long distance ace had signaled his intentions after making sure that he stayed in the leading pack alongside Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga and the Kenyan trio of Abel Kirui, Emmanuel Mutai and Robert Cheruiyot.

But as the 29-year-old approached the 30km mark, he chose to retire following a nagging pain in his right thigh.

"I felt good all the way until that time when the pain set in. First, I hesitated but once the pain persisted, I realised I couldn’t carry on,” Disi told Times Sport.

"I have received treatment and hope to be better in the next few days.”

Disi caused a stir in the opening 10km when he was head on with Ethiopia’s Merga.

He later dropped to 9th but rose back into 4th after the 20km mark.

He slipped down to fifth on the half way mark before shockingly dropping out.

It was a rude welcome for him on the count that he was only making his maiden full marathon debut on the world stage after switching from his specialty 10,000m at the end of last year’s Beijing Olympic Games.

Kirui won the marathon in a championship record time of 2 hours, six minutes and 54 seconds.

Compatriot Emmanuel Mutai took silver in 2:07:48 with Tsegaye Kebede claiming bronze for Ethiopia (2:08:35).

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