Marathoners ooze confidence ahead of Worlds

Tokyo Marathon silver medallist Gideon Kipketer (left) and Boston Marathon champion Geoffrey Kirui during training on July 25, 2017. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA |

What you need to know:

  • Kenya’s cocktail of big city and championship marathon runners are confident of an impressive outing at the 16th IAAF World Championships in London next week.
  • The marathon team that has been camping in Naiberi, Uasin Gishu County, and despite their little experience in the World Championships, the athletes yesterday said they will run a good race, “just like any other marathon.”

Kenya’s cocktail of big city and championship marathon runners are confident of an impressive outing at the 16th IAAF World Championships in London next week.

The marathon team that has been camping in Naiberi, Uasin Gishu County, and despite their little experience in the World Championships, the athletes yesterday said they will run a good race, “just like any other marathon.”

Boston Marathon champion Geoffrey Kirui and Gideon Kipketer, who was second in February’s Tokyo Marathon, were on Tuesday winding down their training ahead of departure to London.

Kirui said the training has been going on well, with no injuries reported, and that they look forward to travelling with the first group of athletes next week.

“We are now doing the last bit since we are done with the hard part of the training. I must say our training has been good and there is no injury at all for now,” he said.

Kirui said that they will run as a team in London despite the fact that the three men in the squad have never competed in the global championships.

“For the three of us, we will be running as new athletes in the championships but that will not lower our morale to perform better. We will help each other and make sure we all get into the medal bracket if possible,” said the soft-spoken athlete who normally trains in Keringet, Nakuru County.

The women’s team has more experience in World Championships competition with Edna Kiplagat having won twice and Helah Kiprop having struck silver at the last championships in Beijing.

Kipketer said he is banking on teamwork to make sure they deliver good results.