Sarah Chepchirchir eyes podium in Tokyo Marathon

As athletes prepare for Sunday’s Tokyo Marathon, Sarah Chepchirchir, who is also the Lisbon Marathon champion, is ambitiously eyeing a podium finish in her first World Marathon Majors race.

Chepchirchir will also use the race to interest Kenyan marathon selectors ahead of the World Championships to be held in London from August 4 to 13.

“I will be running this race with my aim to have good time so that I can be selected in the Kenyan team that will be heading to London for the World Championships in August,” said Chepchirchir who boasts of training with Olympic champion Jemima Sumgong, who also happens to be her sister in-law, in Kapsabet, Nandi County.

She’s happy with her training as she heads out tonight to Tokyo for the race that will be run from 3:30am (Kenyan time) on the streets of the Japanese capital.

“My training was fine and I thank God so far because it was injury free. I want to run a good race on Sunday and my prayer is to be on the podium,” Chepchirchir told Nation Sport.

“When I was told that I will be on the Tokyo Marathon start list, I started my training in November and there was no holiday season for me. I had a programme to follow and I’m going there well prepared.”

“We will run as a team from Kenya since our competitors from Ethiopia use this to beat us. We will plan how to run a night before the race so that we can sweep the medals,” she said.

Training with Sumgong, she says, gives her a lot of motivation as she wants to be like the Olympic champion one day.