Kenyans aim for titles at the New York City marathon

Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor of Kenya leads the pack in the men's 10,000 metres final during the 15th IAAF World Championships at the National Stadium in Beijing, China August 22, 2015. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

The New York City Marathon takes centre-stage on Sunday, with three-time champion Mary Keitany, Wilson Kipsang and Geoffrey Kamworor all set for the race. 

The men's field includes Ghirmay Ghebreslassie of Eritrea, who will be defending the men’s title, 2016 Boston Marathon Champion Lemi Berhanu and the 2014 second-place finisher Lelisa Desisa - both of Ethiopia.

In the women’s entry, defending champion Keitany will lead Edna Kiplagat and Betsy Saina. They will be rivalled by Ethiopian duo of Tigist Tufa and Mare Dibaba. 

Kiplagat holds titles from the 2010 New York City Marathon, 2014 London Marathon and 2017 Boston Marathon. She is a three-time World Championship medallist and most recently, she bagged silver at the IAAF World Championships London 2017.

Saina, who is was fifth-place finisher at the Rio Olympics 10,000 timing 30:07 and made her marathon debut at the 2017 Tokyo Marathon in February this year, will hope for her big break in the gruelling 42km race.

After pulling out of the Berlin Marathon midway in September, former world marathon record holder Kipsang is seeking to finish the year on a high note on Sunday.

Kenyan Geoffrey Kamworor is also returning to the track. The 24-year-old was the runner-up in 2015 and is a four-time world champion, twice in cross-country and twice in the half-marathon. His personal best of 2:06:12 came from his marathon debut in 2012 when he finished third at the Berlin Marathon.

Peter Ciaccia, president of events for New York Road Runners and race director of the marathon, earlier said: “Having Ghirmay and Mary return to the streets of New York to defend their titles among a group of athletes from 27 countries around the world is a true testament to the TCS New York City Marathon being one of the most world-class and universally diverse sporting events.”

Some media events have been postponed following Tuesday’s terrorist attack in lower Manhattan, but marathon officials said all other race-week activities will continue as planned.

“With respect to the victims, their families, and our city agency partners, we will be postponing our ceremonial Blue Line Painting and Faces of the Marathon media events originally scheduled for Wednesday(yesterday),’’ the New York Road Runners organisation said in a statement.