Previews23 Apr 2010


Despite challenges, Wanjiru and Mikitenko ready to defend - London Marathon preview

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Sammy Wanjiru crosses the line to win the 2009 Flora London Marathon (© Getty Images)

London, UKThe Virgin London Marathon will again field two of the best fields ever seen in world road racing on Sunday (25) when reigning champions Sammy Wanjiru and Irina Mikitenko defend their titles against a host of top marathoners.

Business as usual then for one of the leading IAAF Gold Label and World Marathon Majors races.

The biggest hurdle? Beating the ash cloud challenge

Perhaps, but it didn’t look that way at the beginning of the week when race director Dave Bedford feared that many of his top athletes wouldn’t make it to the British capital because of the cloud of volcanic ash that hung over Europe closing air space and grounding flights for days.

Indeed, it was only on Thursday that Bedford knew for certain he would get all his international athletes into Britain in time to compete. The feat was achieved thanks to three chartered planes (at a cost of £150,000), and considerable assistance from athletes’ agents, travel companies, other race directors and the British government.

“We’ve had a bit of a challenging week,” said Bedford on Thursday. “Early in the week we thought we’d get some of our athletes in, but certainly not all. It was only when the skies re-opened that we knew we could get them all here.”

“Now I believe we will have the best fields ever in the most challenging circumstances we have ever faced. As long as there are no negative after-effects on the athletes from all their difficult travelling I expect to see some incredible performances on Sunday.”

Wanjiru: ‘I think 2:04 something is possible’

In the men’s race it will certainly take something special to better the last two years when Martin Lel, in 2008, and Wanjiru, last year, lowered the course record. It now stands at 2:05:10, a mark which put Wanjiru seventh on the world all-time list. That’s changed now, of course, following Patrick Makau and Geoffrey Mutai’s performances in Rotterdam two weeks ago.

Whether the Olympic champion is in the same sort of form on Sunday – after his draining journey from Kenya, via Eritrea, Turkey and Madrid – is hard to say, but he seemed confident this morning when he predicted a sub-2:05 winning time.

“I think 2:04-something is possible,” he said. “I wouldn’t talk about the world record here but if the weather is good on Sunday I think I can run better than last year.”

Wanjiru suffered a back problem in January that restricted his training for a month. He will still be the pre-race favourite here but he’s far from guaranteed a second successive victory. Even without Lel, champion here in 2005, 2007 and 2008, the field is as hot as they come.

The line-up includes the second fastest man in history, Duncan Kibet, the World champion, Abel Kirui; the Olympic and world bronze medallist, Tsegaye Kebede; and the Olympic silver medallist, Jaouad Gharib, twice a World champion in the past.

Add to that list, the world silver medallist, Emmanuel Mutai, who was fourth here in 2008 and 2009, and Zersenay Tadese, the World Half Marathon record holder, who snatched Wanjiru’s Half Marathon Record last month, and Bedford’s claim that this is London’s best ever field begins to makes sense.

The Kenyans will run as a team to at least 35km, sharing the pace until the final stretch. “If one of us wins we will all celebrate,” said Kirui. “You cannot achieve these things alone.”

Nevertheless, Kirui has suggested he can break the World record and said this morning he wouldn’t like to predict who will emerge the strongest if the battle comes down to him and Wanjiru.

For his part, Wanjiru sees Kebede as his main rival. “I think he is very strong,” he said. “He is experienced on this course now and, of course, he was second to me last year. He is the one we have to fear.”

We shouldn’t ignore Tadese, however, who was sick last year, when he dropped out at 35km, and described his recent World Half Marathon record in Lisbon as “perfect preparation for London”.

Mikitenko cautiously optimistic – women’s race

On the women’s side, Mikitenko arrives in London not having competed for seven months since she was beaten into second by Liliya Shobukhova at the Chicago marathon. Not that she thinks that’s a disadvantage.

“It doesn’t make me feel anxious at all,” said Mikitenko, who pulled out of a 10km road race in Paderborn three weeks ago because of sore shins. “I did the same between London and Chicago last year and my form is good. The winter was hard for a lot of us Europeans because of all the snow. We had to improvise a lot with training but I’m in good shape now.”

Mikitenko is a two-time champion, but all eyes here will be on the home favourite, Mara Yamauchi, who gave Mikitenko a strong challenge last year and came away with second place just a minute behind the German in a personal best of 2:23:12.

For Yamauchi, Denver to London in.. six days

The Japan-based Briton has earned major publicity in the build-up thanks to a marathon six-day journey from Denver to London via Newark, Lisbon, Madrid and Paris, a trip involving planes, trains, taxis, hired cars, a propeller jet and a considerable amount of resourcefulness and determination.

Yamauchi maintains she’s in the form and mood to run well, however. She broke the New York half marathon course record when she beat Deena Kastor last month, proving that she is fully recovered from the foot injury which sidelined her for most of last year.

Indeed, despite all the attention and her travel tribulations, she still believes she can get close to her best on Sunday.

She may have to for the field includes, not only Mikitenko, who’s aiming to match her compatriot Katrin Dorre with three London wins in three years (Dorre’s were from 1994 to 1996), but also Romania’s Olympic champion Constantina Dita, all three medallists from the IAAF World Championships in Berlin, and Kastor, the 2006 London champion and 2004 Olympic bronze medallist.

Kastor’s PB of 2:19:36, set here four years ago, makes her the second quickest in the field behind Mikitenko, but as many as seven athletes among the 20-strong elite entries have run quicker than 2:22 and 14 faster than 2:25.

Ethiopian record holder Berhane Adere, no stranger to the London course, is the third fastest. She is one of five strong Ethiopians, including last year’s Berlin Marathon champion, Atsede Habtamu, the 2009 Dubai champion, Bezunesh Bekele, the World Championships bronze medallist, Aselefech Mergia, and former Paris champion, Askale Magarsa Tafa.

No Ethiopian has won the women’s race here since Derartu Tulu in 2001 so they’ll all be keen to put that run to an end.

There’s also a bunch of talented Russians, headed by the 2009 New York runner-up Lyudmila Petrova. She’s joined by fellow veteran Svetlana Zakharova, three times a silver medallist here; Shobukhova, who was third last year; Inga Abitova, winner of last year’s Yokohama marathon and sixth in London; and the debutante Mariya Konovalova, an Olympic finalist over 5000m.

World champion Bai Xue of China leads the Asian threat along with World silver medallist Yoshimi Ozaki and her Japanese teammates Mari Ozaki and Yukiko Akaba.

Kim Smith, New Zealand’s multi-record breaking track runner, is hoping to improve on her one previous marathon outing – she dropped out of the 2008 New York race – and is keen to follow in Mikitenko’s footsteps by making a successful transition from track to the “ultimate distance”.

This year, some runners have already made an “ultimate” journey just to make it to the start line. On Sunday, we’ll know who’s travelled best when they reach the ultimate finish.

Matthew Brown for the IAAF


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