David GOMBE
Saturday 10.08.2024
Marathon Males Closing (9am)
•Victor Kiplangat
•Stephen Kissa
•Andrew Rotich Kwemoi
Uganda’s Victor Kiplangat might be chasing Marathon gold on the Paris Olympic Video games on streets of the French capital on Saturday morning.
Kiplangat is each the World and Commonwealth Males’s marathon champion and might be in search of to finish legendary Eliud Kipchoge’s dominance on the Olympics.
He received the Commonwealth Marathon title in Birmingham, England in 2022 earlier than including the 2023 World title in Budapest.
Ought to Kiplangat triumph on Saturday in a subject of 84 males, he’ll develop into the primary man in historical past to carry three marathon titles.
Stephen Kissa and Andrew Kwemoi are the opposite Ugandans who will compete within the males’s marathon.
Kissa who was on target for a medal within the males’s world marathon in Budapest final 12 months, fell and ended up ending in fifth.
In February this 12 months, Kissa was second on the Osaka Marathon in Japan with a time of two:06.22 and his final warmup race in the identical nation noticed him end eighth in 1:03.07.
Kwemoi however didn’t end the World Championships in Budapest after 33km however was third on the Milan Marathon in April with a time of two:07.52.
The Ugandan trio might be in search of to comply with into the footsteps of Stephen Kiprotich who’s the final and solely Ugandan athlete to have received the Olympic title
In the meantime, Kenya’s Kipchoge desires to develop into the primary athlete to win three again to again Olympic marathon titles.
Paris is the town the place all of it started for him and his rival Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele.
The 2003 World Championships was the primary time the 2 legendary athletes met with Kipchoge profitable his solely observe gold over the 5000m, with Bekele ending third.
Bekele now 42 might be one of many two oldest athletes within the marathon entries alongside one other Ethiopian now turned Swiss runner Tadesse Abraham.
Kipchoge is the quickest man alive within the absence of the world report holder Kelvin Kiptum, a fellow Kenyan who lowered the World Document on the 2023 Chicago Marathon. Kiptum died in accident in April this 12 months.
Kiplangat and co might be aiming to finish Kenya’s dominance over the 42km distance. Kenya has received three of the final 4 males’s Olympic marathons and nonetheless boasts a formidable staff in Benson Kipruto, the winner on the 2024 Tokyo marathon the place Kipchoge suffered his fourth marathon loss ending tenth.
