Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge celebrates after winning the men's marathon final during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Sapporo on August 8, 2021.
| File | AFPAthletics
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Marathon king Kipchoge on the cusp of Olympic history
What you need to know:
- The marathon course is flat for the first 14km before the athletes ascend up to the 20km mark then face a gentle descent over 6km with a few ups and down rolls.
- They face a steep 600m climb at about 30km before tumbling down for 2km then slogging it out for the last 10km on a relatively flat topography to the finish at the Esplanade des Invalides, where Napoleon is buried.
On Saturday from 9am (Kenyan time) on the roads of Paris, Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge will attempt to achieve what no man has ever done – win a third back-to-back Olympic Games marathon gold.
Kipchoge, the world marathon record holder and undisputed greatest marathon runner of all time, will lead his compatriots, Tokyo Marathon champion Benson Kipruto and London Marathon champion Alexander Mutiso, in fighting for a title that Kenyans have only won four times before despite their global dominance of the race.
Spyridon Louis of Greece won the first men’s marathon race of the Olympics in Athens 1896 in a time of 2 hours 58 minutes and 50 seconds.
Since then, times have gotten faster and faster with the fastest time currently belonging to the late Samuel Wanjiru of Kenya of 2:06:32 set at the 2008 Beijing Games.
The peerless Kipchoge will be looking to add to his near effortless win in Rio 2016 (winning time 2:08:44) and the delayed Tokyo 2020, held in 2021 (winning time 2:08:38)
The Kenyan assault, on paper is formidable, but it will surely not have it all its way.
The 2023 World Athletics Championships and 2022 Commonwealth Games marathon champion Victor Kiplangat of Uganda is certainly keen to add the Olympic title to his impressive cabinet.
Kenenisa Bekele, at 42, is one of the oldest runners in the field but no less hungry as he leads a strong Ethiopian team that also has the fast Seville Marathon champion Deresa Geleta, and 2022 world champion, Tamirat Tola.
Kiplangat revealed to Nation Sport he was confident of a podium finish. He added that competing alongside his ‘mentor’ Kipchoge would only motivate him to perform to his best level.
“Kipchoge has always inspired me and having competed in Tokyo Marathon in March where he finished in 10th position and I finished in 15th position, which I can say it was not our day, I believe something special awaits us in on the roads of Paris,” Kiplangat, who is also the an assistant pastor at the Temple of the Most High God Ministries in Kapchorwa, Uganda.
Kipruto will look to take advantage of his advanced knowledge of the race route.
He inspected the roads in details in an earlier visit and concluded the course was “one of the toughest I have seen.”
He said that after racing in the Manchester Run in May, he toured the Paris 2024 course to help guide his training programme.
“I’m lucky I managed to drive through the marathon course in Paris after requesting my management because I was really interested to know how it looks. That helped me change my training for the Olympics,” said the Kapsabet-based Kipruto.
The marathon course is flat for the first 14km before the athletes ascend up to the 20km mark then face a gentle descent over 6km with a few ups and down rolls.
They face a steep 600m climb at about 30km before tumbling down for 2km then slogging it out for the last 10km on a relatively flat topography to the finish at the Esplanade des Invalides, where Napoleon is buried.
