By Grace Kuria
Kenya’s long-distance great Eliud Kipchoge will be seeking to defend his Olympic marathon title which he won in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Taking to Twitter, Kipchoge said, “I am very excited to be here in the Olympic village in Japan. It is great that we are able to run the Olympic marathon in these unusual times. On Sunday, I will try to defend my Olympic marathon title from Rio de Janeiro. I cannot wait to witness a wonderful event. Niko tayari. (I am ready).”
The men’s marathon takes place on Sunday, August 8, to close out the Olympic games.
Kipchoge will come up against Ethiopia’s Shura Kitata who won the London Marathon in 2020.
Others expected to run the race include Ethiopia’s Birhanu Legese, Kenya’s Lawrence Cherono who won the Boston and Chicago marathons in 2019, and Vincent Kipchumba, the runner-up to Kitata in London last year.
Kipchoge wrote history in October 2019 as the first man to run a marathon in under two hours during the Ineos 1:59 Challenge.
