A legendary long-distance runner and Olympic medalist vying for a third consecutive gold dropped out of the Paris Olympics men’s marathon mid-race Saturday and hinted that he might retire.

Eliud Kipchoge, of Kenya, dropped out of the race about 18 miles into the 26.2-mile competition, after about an hour and 40 seconds of running, Olympics.com said.

Kipchoge – who was on top of the podium at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro games and again in Tokyo in 2021 – is the only runner in history to win two consecutive Olympic gold medals for the marathon.

Saturday’s race was Kipchoge’s chance to chase an unprecedented third consecutive gold, but he was ultimately felled by a discomfort in his side, Olympics.com reported.

“It is a difficult time for me,” Kipchoge admitted after removing himself from the competition.

“This is my worst marathon. I have never done a DNF (did not finish),” said the runner. “That’s life. Like a boxer, I have been knocked down, I have won, I have come second, eighth, 10th, fifth – now I did not finish. That’s life,” he added.

Kipchoge, 39, also suggested that he had no plans to compete at the 2028 games in Los Angeles.

“You will see me in a different way, maybe giving people motivation, but I will not run,” he said.

“I don’t know what is next. I need to go back [home], sit down, try to figure my 21 years of running at a high level. I need to evolve and feature in other things.”

Kipchoge, 39, is widely considered the greatest marathoner in history. He was in the lead group on Saturday for the first nine miles until the course’s hills started slowing paces, Runner’s World reported.

After reaching Versailles and turning back toward Paris, Kipchoge was more than a minute behind the lead – not even within the top 50 runners, the outlet said.

“I had a pain in my back at about 20 kilometers and decided not to finish and try to get out,” he said of the decision to take himself out of the race.

“The hills didn’t affect me at all. The pain made me stop.”

Kipchoge famously won 10 marathons in a row from 2014 to 2019, before finishing eighth at the London Marathon in 2020, Runner’s World noted.

He broke the world record in the marathon twice – both times at the Berlin race – and was the only man to run under 2 hours in a non-record eligible marathon attempt in Vienna in 2019.

In addition to his marathon golds, Kipchoge won a bronze medal in 2004 and a silver in 2008, both in the 5,000 meters event.

The gold medal on Saturday went to Tamirat Tola, of Ethiopia, who set an Olympic record time when he crossed the finish line in two hours, six minutes, and 26 minutes.

Tola, 32, won the New York marathon in 2023.

Belgium’s Bashir Abdi nabbed the silver medal in Paris, and Benson Kipruto of Kenya won bronze in his Olympic debut.

Kipruto dedicated his medal to fellow Kenyan runner Kelvin Kiptum, 24, who was killed in car crash in February after breaking the marathon world record in Chicago in 2023.

There were 72 finishers total on Saturday, after 10 competitors dropped out along the way.

The women’s marathon is set for Sunday morning.

With Post wires