Kipyego leads Kenyans onslaught at Hamburg marathon

2018 World Half Marathon Championships silver medalist Barselius Kipyego is the fastest Kenyan on the elite field at Sunday's Haspa Marathon Hamburg. 

Kipyego heads to the race as the third fastest on paper having clocked his PB of 2:04:48 in Paris last year. 

The marathon returns to its traditional spring date on Sunday 24 April for the first time since 2019 with probably the strongest elite fields in the history of the event. 

Last year’s race was held under strict Covid regulations with less than 5,000 runners and almost no elite athletes. 

The event on Sunday will be the complete opposite, and the elite fields boast eleven runners with personal bests of sub 2:08 and seven women who ran below 2:27. 

Three men will be going to the starting line on Sunday knowing they have run faster than Eliud Kipchoge’s Hamburg course record of 2:05:30.

Since 2021 Berlin Marathon champion Guye Adola had to withdraw due to an injury fellow-Ethiopian Abebe Negewo, now heads the start lists with a PB of 2:04:06 which he ran in Valencia in 2019. 

Ethiopia’s Tsegaye Mekonnen the winner of the Haspa Marathon Hamburg 2017 is also making a return, with his 2:04:32 PB the second fastest on the field. 

“For a number of athletes this will be their first major international race since the start of the pandemic. We hope that they will do very well,“ said Jurrie van der Velden. “The weather looks good at the moment. If it is like this on Sunday we are optimistic to see times of around 2:05."

Philipp Pflieger, who has a personal best of 2:12:15, and Johannes Motschmann carry national hopes on Sunday. 

Motschmann ran 2:12:18 in Rotterdam last autumn and showed promising form recently at the Berlin Half Marathon where he improved to 61:45. As a number of other athletes he hopes to achieve the qualifying standard for the World Championships of 2:11:30 in Hamburg.

Other Kenya runners on the field include Simon Kipkosgei, Cybrian Kotut, Bernard Ngeno Amos Mitei among others. Ronald Kirui makes his debut in the classic distance. 

 Elite runners with personal bests

 Abebe Negewo ETH 2:04:06

Tsegaye Mekonnen ETH 2:04:32

Barselius Kipyego KEN 2:04:48

Dejene Debele ETH 2:05:46

Simon Kipkosgei KEN 2:07:07

Cybrian Kotut KEN 2:07:11

Bernard Ngeno KEN 2:07:18

Amos Mitei KEN 2:07:28

Workineh Tadesse ETH 2:07:42

Abrar Osman ERI 2:07:46

Mustafa Kedir ETH 2:07:49

Alfred Koech KEN 2:09:01

Victor Kiplangat UGA 2:10:18

Bazezew Asmare ETH 2:10:51

Masresha Bere ETH 2:10:55

Arturo Esparza MEX 2:11:04

Philipp Pflieger GER 2:12:15

Johannes Motschmann GER 2:12:18

Gasper Csere HUN 2:14:34

Dario Castro MEX 2:14:51

Marco Salami ITA 2:14:57

Stephen Kissa UGA Debut

Ronald Kirui KEN Debut

Ibrahim Hassan DJI Debut

Filimon Abraham GER Debut