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Elite men's preview: Return of the champions
Eliud Kipchoge will resume his rivalry with fellow Kenyans Dennis Kimetto
and Wilson Kipsang when he defends the Virgin Money London Marathon title.
Kipchoge beat two-time champion Kipsang by just five seconds in a thrilling
sprint finish at the end of last year's 35th race as world record holder
Kimetto was left to fight for third place.
Kipchoge's winning time of 2:04:42 was a fraction outside Kipsang's course
record, and the former world 5000m champion went on to win the Berlin
Marathon last September in a personal best of 2:04:00 to claim the Abbott
World Marathon Majors Series IX title. He now sits sixth on the all-time
list behind Kimetto's historic best of 2:02:57 and Kipsang's former world
record of 2:03:23.
With Rio 2016 Olympic places to be won, there will be even more at stake
for the Kenyan greats in 2016 when the trio toe the London Start Line again
in pursuit of one of world running's most prestigious prizes.
"It was fantastic to win the Virgin Money London Marathon last year against
one of the greatest fields ever assembled in marathon running," said
Kipchoge. "This year I will come back to London to compete again with the
world's best athletes. I will work hard to defend my title in London and,
together with Wilson, Dennis and others, make it a fast and wonderful
race."
Kipchoge's superb record of five wins and one second place from six
marathon starts since 2013 will make him the marginal favourite in a field
that contains the top five finishers from 2015, four men who have run the
26.2-mile distance in under 2 hours 5 minutes, and 17 who have finished
quicker than 2:10.
Kimetto and Kipsang are likely to be the champion's main challengers, with
the pair both looking to make amends after dropping out of the World
Championship race in Beijing last August. Kipsang has always shown great
form in London with victories in 2012 and 2014, but he was unable to retain
his New York title in November.
Kimetto will also feel he has something to prove after losing touch with
his two compatriots on the run for home along London's Victoria Embankment
last year. He also dropped out in the early stages of December's Fukuoka
Marathon with a thigh injury and hasn't won a race since his world record
victory in Berlin in 2014.
The top three will all have a wary eye on another Kenyan, however, for
Stanley Biwott added much to his credentials by taking his first AWMM
victory in New York last November where he outran Kipsang and world half
marathon champion Geoffrey Kamworor in Central Park. Biwott finished fourth
in the London Marathon last April, a year after placing second when he was
the surprise package, clocking a personal best to break the 2:05 barrier.
As ever, the favoured Kenyans will be challenged by runners from
neighbouring east African countries, not least Ethiopia's triple Olympic
gold medallist and multiple world record-breaking track champion, Kenenisa
Bekele, and Eritrea's teenage hero from the Beijing World Championships,
Ghirmay Ghebreslassie.
The 33-year-old Bekele moved up to take on the ultimate distance challenge
in 2014 when he won the Paris Marathon in 2:05:04 before finishing fourth
in Chicago that October. Injury kept him out of action in 2015 and he will
be keen to make his mark on a long-awaited return to the roads.
Ethiopia's talented quartet also includes Tilahun Regassa, who was fifth
here last year, Sisay Lemma, the 2015 Frankfurt Marathon champion, plus
last year's Rotterdam champion, Abera Kuma – all men who have run quicker
than 2:06.
Ghebreslassie, the surprise world champion in Beijing, makes his first
appearance in London alongside four compatriots – former Eritrean record
holder Samuel Tsegay; Ghebre Kibrom, who finished eighth last year; Amanuel
Mesel, who was ninth in Beijing; and Tewelde Estifanos, last year's Oita
Marathon champion.
Ukraine's nine-times European cross country champion, Serhiy Lebid, is the
top European in the line-up. He finished 10th last year. German record
holder Arne Gabius also earns a place following his barrier-breaking fourth
place in Frankfurt last October, while Poland's former steeplechaser Marcin
Chabowski and Lebid's compatriot Vitaliy Shafar could also be top 10
contenders.
As for the rest of the world, there's an intriguing marathon debut to watch
from Australia's former world 5000m bronze medallist, Craig Mottram, while
Mexico's José Uribe, a former Central American 5000m champion, will be
looking to attack his PB.
Kipchoge, Kipsang, Kimetto, Biwott, Bekele and Ghebreslassie will all
appear at a press conference at the Tower Hotel, London, on Wednesday 20
April.
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