HUGE EXPECTATIONS: Kipchoge, Biwott and Korir out to reclaim Wanjiru‘s title today at 3:30pm
Athletics
By
Bismarck Mutahi in Rio Di Janeiro
| Aug 21, 2016
The writing is on the wall. The gods of athletics have spoken and the nation is pregnant with expectations. Kenya is thirsting for a second men’s Olympics marathon gold in Rio today.
Eliud Kipchoge, the two-time London Marathon winner, is the hot-favourite to reclaim Samuel Wanjiru’s crown. And if he doesn’t, then the reigning New York City Marathon winner Stanley Biwott, now in tip-top form, will rise to the occasion.
At 19, Kipchoge stunned the globe when he won the 5,000m title at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Paris in 2003 and has maintained the rhythm on tracks and the road. Then, he pulled a fast one on Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele and Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco, to run away with the championship record of 12:52.79.
Kipchoge maintained a brilliant record in marathon, winning all his races – save for 2013 Berlin Marathon where he was a runners-up behind Wilson Kipsang who broke the world record.
But he has not been without challenges which range from the neon-green insoles of his Nike running shoes coming apart less than an hour into the competition at the Berlin Marathon last year to getting eighths of a second shy of the world record at the London Marathon last year.
Despite all odds, Kipchoge looks determined to go one better even as he remains the man to beat when the race starts at 3:30pm Kenyan at Sambódromo.
Kipchoge, a shy man, is less bothered with his favourite tag status and is just keen on his race.
“I know it will be a tough race and I will fight hard and try to win an Olympic title,” he said.
Kipchoge will take comfort in the fact that he will have Biwott alongside him as they strive to win back the Olympic title that the late Samuel Wanjiru clinched in 2008.
When Wanjiru was crowned champion in Beijing, Kipchoge won a silver medal in 5000m in Beijing and he will be keen to win an Olympic title today.
Kipchoge and Biwott have run a number of races together and the standout one will be the London Marathon when they worked as a team to shake off Bekele who was threatening to beat Kenyans once again as he was eyeing victory in London.
That team work is expected to come into play today when they marshal forces with Cherangany MP Wesley Korir, the 2012 Boston Marathon winner, in the hunt for gold medal.
As usual, a stiff competition is expected from Kipchoge’s training mate and defending champion in Uganda’s Stephen Kiprotich.
Kipchoge and Kiprotich train under Dutch man Jos Hermens of Global Sports Communications.