After saying in a statement that there had been "a whole host of stuff that over the last three weeks has come together like a bad storm", Scotland's Commonwealth 10,000 metres champion added that one of the factors had been that she was told her running in London would not be allowed as she planned to wear the branding of a new sponsor on her vest.

In a statement announcing her withdrawal because of injury she added: "I was then hit with a further roadblock having been told I wouldn’t be allowed to race, due to a sponsor clash between myself and a London Marathon's sponsor.

"I do not doubt that the major marathon contracts will be updated in future years.

"But it needs to change to give athletes the chance to be financially stable."

"And they certainly should not be restricted as to what races they can or cannot do, purely because of a logo on their chest!"

She confirmed in a later Tweet that her sponsor was Science in Sport (SIS) - a company specialising in endurance sports nutrition and drinks -  adding: "But they sponsor New York Marathon alongside Gatorade.

"So I, nor SIS, understand the clash.

"Other sports don’t seem to have this issue - Triathlon, F1 etc."

Responding to a suggestion on Twitter that regulations only stipulate two logos on a running vest and say nothing about who the logos should represent, McColgan insisted:

"Sadly it DOES matter WHO the sponsor is.

"A personal sponsor cannot clash with a race sponsor.

"But they have loads across different sectors and those brands will be different for every major marathon too!"

In a statement, Hugh Brasher, the event director of the London Marathon, which is also sponsored by Lucozade, said organisers understood "the massive disappointment and emotional stress that getting injured puts on any athlete" but did not address McColgan's allegations directly.

"There was great excitement about her debut over the marathon distance and I know she would have had huge support from the crowds," he said. 

"We look forward to welcoming her to London in the future - hopefully next April.

"We won’t be making any further comment today as we believe that face to face conversations are always the best way to understanding and we’ll be talking to Eilish later this weekend."

McColgan, 32, whose mother Liz won the London Marathon in 1996, had been planning to make her marathon debut in this year’s event, having had to pull out of the 2022 event due to reactive hypoglycemia, which leads to reduced blood sugar levels.