When the 2015-16 Abbott World Marathon Majors series kicks off with the Tokyo Marathon on Sunday, the spotlight in the men’s race will shine on two athletes – Kenya’s title defender Dickson Chumba and Uganda’s world and Olympic champion Stephen Kiprotich.
Not that the rest will be also-rans, because there is Ethiopia’s pint-sized marathon legend Tsegay Kebede and the Kenyan pair of 2013 Paris Marathon champion Peter Some and Mike Kipyego, the latter a winner here in 2012.
Throw in 2014 Hamburg Marathon champion Shumi Desacha, 2:04 runner Markos Geneti and debutant Tariku Bekele, all from Ethiopia, then we have an epic Kenya vs Ethiopia battle in our hands on the smooth streets of the Japanese capital.
Chumba won here sensationally last year with a course record 2:05.42 which looks seriously under threat today with favourable weather conditions expected along with the rising form of Kiprotich who stunned Kenya by winning back-to-back championship marathons at the London Olympics in 2012 and the Moscow World Championships in 2013.
Kiprotich has been training at the Global Sports Communication camp in Kaptagat, Kenya, and his management feels that the best is yet to come out of the man from the Mt Elgon district of Kapchorwa whose life was completely transformed from obscurity to celebrity after his Olympic triumph.
PERSONAL BEST
Bizarrely, Kiprotich’s personal best is a “sluggish” 2:07.20 clocked at the 2011 Enschede Marathon in the Netherlands, which Jurrie van der Velden, who handles Global Sports’ Uganda docket, says is undeserving for a runner of his calibre.
Van der Velden attributes Kiprotich’s dip in form to personal tragedies in which the Ugandan prisons officer was violently robbed once and then lost his baby daughter last year, losses he has been struggling to come round from.
“Stephen has had difficulties because after the Olympics he was the victim of a violent robbery and then his daughter passed away last year. He wasn’t able to concentrate fully in this period but hopefully now we will see the real Stephen because definitely he has more potential than 2:07,” van der Velde said in Tokyo yesterday.
Van der Velden believes Kiprotich can improve his personal best to even 2:04 and that, indeed, the conditions look good for possibly another course record today with the pacemakers, who include Kenyans Richard Mengich and Joel Kimutai, detailed to go on a 62:30-35 mid-way pace targeting a 2:05 (low) finish.
“I’ve been to Tokyo five times and this is the best weather in those five years so even 2:04 could be possible,” van der Velden said.
The women are also targeting to beat the 2:22.23 course record also clocked last year by Ethiopia’s Tirfi Tsegay who will not be around to defend her title, leaving the battle between Kenya’s Commonwealth Champion Flomena Cheyech and Ethiopia’s Olympic gold medallist Tiki Gelana.
OUTSIDE CHANCE
Another Ethiopian, 2:22.30 runner Birhane Dibaba, has an outside chance although she will be hard-pressed for a good outing following her late arrival, along with Tariku, after their Turkish Airlines flight was delayed in Istanbul due to snow, forcing them to reschedule their arrival in Tokyo to Friday night.
Of additional interest with be Japan-based IAAF World Half Marathon bronze-medallist Sally Chepyego Kaptich who runs for the Fukuoka-based Kyudenko Team, and who will be debuting over the 42-kilometre distance.
Kaptich, a former World Youth Championships 3,000m gold medallist, will be boosted by her victory in January’s Osaka Half Marathon (1:09.43), with the third Kenyan woman in today’s field being Seoul International Marathon champion Helah Kiprop (2:27.14).
Meanwhile, not even the late withdrawal through injury of Kenyan speedster Geoffrey Mutai has taken the shine off today’s men’s race as Chumba, who trains in Kapsabet under coach Claudio Berardelli, will be boosted by his tremendous form that saw him clock a personal best 2:04.32 for a third place finish behind Eliud Kipchoge (2:04.11) and Sammy Kitwara (2:04.28) at last October’s Chicago Marathon.
“If the weather is good, I will go for another course record,” said Chumba confidently, words that everyone must take seriously.
SCARY THOUGHT
One scary thought for Chumba and the Kenyan contingent though is that the diminutive Kebede (2:04.38), a veteran of 15 sub-2:10 marathons, is unbeaten on Japanese soil, having set an all-comers record of 2:05.18 in retaining the Fukuoka Marathon title in 2009.
The Tokyo Marathon opens the 2015-16 Abbott World Marathon Majors series that will also have races in Boston (April 20), London (April 26), Berlin (September 27), Chicago (October 11) and New York (November 1) with the IAAF World Championships in Beijing in July also counting towards Majors points.
The climax of the 2015-16 series will be at next year’s Tokyo Marathon with the next series starting and ending with the Boston Marathon.
During each series period, points from a maximum of two qualifying races will be scored, according to the new rules announced here on Friday by the Abbott World Marathon Majors series organisers.
“An athlete must start in two qualifying races over the series cycle to be eligible for the championship. If an athlete earns points in more than two events, the athlete’s highest two finishes will be scored,” the organisers said.
Race winners will earn 25 points with 16 points awarded for second place, nine for third place, four for fourth place and one point for athletes who finish fifth, with the overall men’s and women’s winners bagging a $500,000 (Sh45 million) jackpot.
Kenya’s Wilson Kipsang and Ednah Kiplagat hold the Majors titles for the 2014-15 series.
