No nonesense coach Kirwa hails Kenya’s Olympic marathon

Athletics coach Julius Kirwa has exuded confidence in the Kenyan marathon team to the Tokyo Olympics carrying the day despite the current training predicament that has forced most athletes to train on their own.

“We are preparing for Tokyo and it is not easy under current circumstances. It is, however, our duty to coordinate training mobilize our athletes to keep training. Currently, they are training individually and we visit their training every now and then to see how training is going on and gauge their performance. The team is ready and we are confident they will represent us well,” said coach Kirwa.

World Marathon record holders Eliud Kipchoge and Bridgid Kosgei will lead a strong contingent of eight athletes, four for each gender. From the team set to defend the titles won by Kenyans in the 2016 event, only two, Kipchoge and Vivian Cheruiyot have experience at the stage.

The men’s team has Kipchoge, Lawrence Cherono, Amos Kipruto and Vincent Chepchumba while Cheruiyot will be joined by Ruth Chepngetich, Peres Jepchirchir, and Kosgei all of whom are making their debut at the Olympics.

Kipchoge is a clear favourite for gold Kipchoge as the defending champion, the current world record holder, at 2:01:39, and in 2019 he became the first person to run a sub-two-hour marathon.

On his part, Cherono’s personal best of 2:03:04 is the seventh-fastest in history. Since his debut at the distance in 2014, he has made the podium in all but two of the marathons he has raced. He won the Boston and Chicago marathons in 2019. Last year, he placed second at the Valencia Marathon.

Kipruto, whose 2:03:30, ran in Valencia, is the 11th-fastest in history has had his fair share of podium finishes in various marathons. He led for the better part of duel with Ethiopia’s duo of Lelisa Desisa and Mosinet Geremew at World Championships in Doha, Qatar but was unable to hold on for a win as the two overtook him at the homestretch for gold and silver, Kipruto settling for bronze respectively.

The least known of the four Kenyan runners, Kipchumba, came to the limelight last year when he braced brutal conditions to beat top athletes, including Kipchoge, at the eagerly awaited London Marathon. He lost by one second to Ethiopia’s Shura Kitata in a sprint finish and his performance then makes him one to watch in Tokyo.

In the women’s team, Cheruiyot will bring her Olympics experience, on track, to the marathon. She is the reigning Olympic 5,000m champion, and knows what it takes to win on the Olympic stage.

She will, however, have tough competition from Chirchir who may be the least experienced in marathon but comes with a good half-marathon experience. Started her marathon career with a 2:47:33 debut in 2013, followed by a 2:23:50 in 2019 and finally her PB of 2:17:16 from her win at the Valencia Marathon last year.

She has also proven to be one of the best half-marathoners in history after setting the women-only half-marathon world record on two occasions in 2020 and winning the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Poland.

Another favourite for the title last won by Kenya’s Jemimah Sumgong is World champions Jepngetich. She bossed it on N Kolay Istanbul Half Marathon in April this year to win in a new World Record of 1:04:02hours. She has run the 20th fastest half marathon of all-time at 2019 Bahrain Night Half Marathon in a time of 66:09 (1:06:09). She also ran 12th fastest half marathon of all-time at 2019 Vodafone Istanbul Half Marathon in a time of 65:30 (1:05:30). On 28 September 2019, she won the global title during the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, clocking 2:32.43 after a start at midnight.

The three women’s achievements will, however, not matter if they cannot beat the world record holder, Kosgei. She won the London Marathon in 2019 and set the marathon world record in Chicago later that same year. In 2020, she won in London again, crushing the rest of the stacked elite field.