World marathon document holder Ruth Chepng’etich and girls’s solely world document holder Peres Jepchirchir are amongst elite athletes who might be in rivalry on this yr’s London Marathon on April 21.
Chepng’etich might be competing in her first marathon since smashing the world document in October final yr, clocking 2:09:56 to win the Chicago Marathon for the third time.
She consequently made historical past as the primary feminine runner to clock a sub-2:10 within the 42km.
Alternatively, Jepchirchir might be again to motion since a disappointing marketing campaign on the Paris Olympics in August final yr.
She clocked 2:26:51 to complete a disappointing fifteenth within the ladies’s race, and relinquish her title, gained three years earlier in Tokyo.
A profitable defence of her London Marathon title might be simply what the physician ordered, so far as amending her disappointing outing in Paris is anxious.
Nonetheless, it will not be a stroll within the park for the Kenyan duo who should deal with the specter of the indefatigable, towering determine of Sifan Hassan.
The Dutchwoman has taken to the highway races as a fish to water, storming to victory in her debut in London after clocking 2:18:33.
The 31-year-old the wrapped up her 2023 in one of the best ways potential, timing 2:13:44 to win the Chicago Marathon.
Final yr started on an underwhelming observe, clocking 2:18:05 to complete fourth within the Tokyo Marathon.
Nevertheless, her Paris Olympic marketing campaign confirmed why she deserves to characteristic within the Biggest of All Time (G.O.A.T) conversations when she saved the very best for final with victory within the ladies’s 42km.
Hassan overcame an elite discipline that included Boston Marathon champion Hellen Obiri, Jepchirchir, Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa and Sharon Lokedi, amongst others, to cross the end line first in 2:22:55.
April’s occasion guarantees to be the most recent episode in what is popping out to be cutthroat competitors within the ladies’s 42km.