AK to name Olympics marathon squad next week

The much-awaited Kenyan Olympics marathon team will be announced mid next week as Athletics Kenya (AK) selected a panel of 10 coaches on Friday to sift through the candidates before coming up with a final squad for Rio.

“Kenya does not have many marathon coaches they are about 10. These are the coaches who train various individual marathoners and there is no harm in seeking the expert opinion and advice and hence, we invited them to assist us in technicalities of the selection of the team we had picked.

“We did not want to make our own selection and be accused of having made misinformed decisions. We are likely to name the team by mid next week,” AK president, Lt. Gen (Rtd) Jackson Tuwei confirmed to Citizen Digital.

AK had scheduled a press conference on Thursday where it was expected the three men and three women who will represent the country at the ultimate distance competition in the Summer Games would be unveiled but the federation cancelled the function at the last minute.

That led to intense speculation with AK having promised to name the team soon after the end of the spring marathon season at the beginning of this month.

London course record holder, Eliud Kipchoge who ran the second fastest marathon of all time when he held on to his title in the jaw-dropping 2:03:05 victory leads the queue for the men’s squad.

The 2008 Olympics silver medallist in 5000m has expressed interest in featuring at his third Summer Games having finished outside the medals at 2004 in Athens and missed the 2012 edition in London after failing to nail a place in the Kenyan team during the brutal Trials in Nairobi.

That informed his decision to switch to the ultimate distance and he has since established an imposing record of five victories in six marathons started, his only loss coming at the 2013 Berlin Marathon where Wilson Kipsang led him home in the then 2:03:23 world record.

London runners-up and New York champion, Stanley Biwott who ran his 2:03:51 lifetime best behind Kipchoge on April 24 and Paris winner, Cyprian Kotut, the younger brother of Beijing fifth finisher and three-time London champion, Martin Lel are other favourites for the coveted Kenyan ticket.

The late Samuel Wanjiru remains the only Kenyan to have won the Olympics men’s marathon when he set the event record of 2:06:32 in a individual performance of all ages at the Beijing 2008 edition.

-Sumgong favourite-

For the women’s squad, London winner, Jemimah Sumgong who finally clinched her first World Marathon Majors victory when she clocked 2:22:58 for glory after recovering from a nasty fall is a rank bet for a slot having finished a commendable fourth at the Beijing Worlds last year.

Visiline Jepkesho, the Paris champion who was also in the Worlds team and two-time Berlin champion, Florence Kiplagat who came third (2:23:39) in London having won her country the World Half Marathon title in 2014 are others with a huge shout.

Retired Catherine ‘The Great’ Ndereba (2004 and 2008) and Priscah Jeptoo (2012) are the closest Kenya has come claim the women’s Olympics title having won the second medals.