Kenyans eye Florence pay out: Viola Jelagat leads home girls against Ethiopian challenge

Gilbert Kirwa competes in Rotterdam Marathon in 2011. [File]

Kirwa, Sugut and Cheboit line up in Italy for IAAF Bronze Label today.

Gilbert Kirwa and Henry Sugut will start as favourites in the Asics Florence Marathon, an IAAF Bronze Label race, in Italy today.

The two are sub-2:07 marathoners. Kirwa set the fastest time of his career in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2009 with 2:06:14. He also clocked two more sub-2:07 times during his races in Seoul, South Korea, – 2:06:44 in 2014 and 2:06:59 in 2010 – and a 2:07:44 in Paris,France, in 2015. But the last marathon he completed was two years ago in Toronto, Canada, as he failed to finish in Prague (Czech Republic) last year in what was his sole marathon attempt of 2016.

Kirwa will take on Sugut, who won the Vienna Marathon in 2010, 2011 and 2013 and set his personal best of 2:06:58 in the Austrian capital in 2012.

Other major contenders for top-three places are Silas Cheboit, who set his personal best of 2:07:15 in Gongju in 2014 but arrives in Florence with a season’s best of 2:16:43, and Silas Limo, who clocked his personal best of 2:08:54 in Gold Coast in 2015.

Ethiopia’s Teshome Shumi Yadete won last year’s edition in 2:11:57, while the course record of 2:08:40 is held by Kenyan James Kutto, who won in 2006.

Ahmed El Mazoury will carry the hopes  of Italians. El Mazoury is the 2011 European under-23 10,000m silver medallist and will be hoping for an impressive marathon debut.

Liberato Pellecchia, who set a personal best of 2:14:28 in 2013, is also expected to be among the top Italian challengers.

Dire Tune is the stand-out name in the women’s race. The Ethiopian won the 2008 Boston Marathon and finished 15th in the marathon at the Olympics later that year. She set a marathon PB of 2:23:44 in 2010, but hasn’t raced since the 2011 World Championships.

Viola Jelagat should also pose a challenge, but the Kenyan will be competing just one month after setting a marathon PB of 2:26:51 so may not be entirely fresh.

In recent years victories in this race have been shared between Kenyan and Ethiopian runners, but the last Kenyan double was 12 years ago.

The race starts and finishes in the central Piazza Santa Croce and will run on a fascinating, but challenging course that passes through Florence’s historic city centre.