London Marathon - Preview

An elite field of talent and depth boasting the World and Olympic champions in the men’s race, and a fascinating women’s encounter between the world’s third fastest ever marathon runner and the might of Africa should make this year’s Flora London Marathon (Sunday 18 April) as spectacular than ever.

MEN’S RACE – Rutto, the bookmakers’ favourite

Experience normally plays an important part when it comes to major races, so perhaps it is a little surprising to find bookmakers are making Evans Rutto the favourite for this Sunday’s race.

Granted, he is fourth on the World all-time list and has finished fifth in a World Championships (the cross country, 12km, albeit five years ago), but he has only run one marathon. Jaouad Gharib of Morocco is another highly fancied, and he has run only two marathons, although they include winning a World title last summer.

Perhaps they will both be overshadowed by a man running the distance for the first time, John Yuda of Tanzania, or should we be looking for athletes with several marathons under their belt when trying to pick out a winner. The fact is, the race is wide open such is the array of truly world class marathoning talent on show.

Some will say the withdrawal of world record-holder Paul Tergat will detract from the race, others will say it will make it an even more open and exciting race. Tergat was perhaps seen as one man who could run away from a classy field, eventhough he has won only one marathon and that was by just one second.

Korir, to spring a surprise?

The man behind him that day, Kenyan compatriot Sammy Korir, is running London and like Tergat has been named in the Olympic squad. But with a personal best of 2:04:56 he is almost one minute faster than any other athlete in the race, so why isn’t he seen as the favourite? Korir won five of his first six completed marathons in the late 1990s but the event has moved on considerably since those days when you could pick up big city marathons in times of 2:08-2:09.

Staggering depth of quality

Sunday’s field boasts one man who has broken 2:05, two under 2:06, six inside 2:07 and a further four who have bettered the 2:08:02 that stood as Korir’s personal best for several years before his breakthrough last year. He says injuries prevented him running such a time in previous years and now believes he can again run world record pace, but will it be enough to win?

It seems race organiser Dave Bedford thinks the bookmakers have got it right to go for Rutto ahead of Korir. He says: “Evans Rutto comes to London wanting to prove a point. He ran the fastest ever marathon debut when he did 2:05:50 in Chicago in October, but has not been selected for the Olympics. He will want to prove the selectors wrong so I wouldn’t be surprised if he not only won but also broke the world record.”

The 26-year-old Kenyan’s best form has tended to come on the roads and Bedford would be delighted if the World record was to fall on Sunday as London would again boast both men’s and women’s marathon marks as it did until Tergat broke Khalid Khannouchi’s 2002 mark last September in Berlin.

Abera’s sprint could be decisive again

If it’s a close race that comes down to a sprint finish, Olympic and former world champion Gezehegne Abera is the master at such tactics, as long as his Achilles injury has not taken any of the spring away from his legs, while in contrast the expert at making a long kick for home is twice winner Abdelkader El Mouaziz who has averaged 2:07:37 in his six London Marathons and has rarely been far from the front.

WOMEN’S RACE – China versus Africa

It was always going to be hard for Flora London Marathon race organisers to attract people’s attention in Olympic year with no Paula Radcliffe running in front of a home crowd, but a clash between one women who has broken 2:20 and another with a best just outside that barrier promises to be an intriguing battle.

Yingjie - third fastest ever

China’s Sun Yingjie won many new admirers in 2003, the year that saw her move to third on the world all-time lists. Her performances in Paris at the World Championships were eye-catching, her aggressive front-running style with an unusually low arm carriage being rewarded with bronze in a sensational 10,000m race.

Her positive performance helped make the race a war of attrition as a host of fast times were recorded, and indeed her own 30:07.20 moved her to fifth on the all-time lists. But when it came to making a mark on the world rankings it was the end of 2003 that Yingjie really made people sit up and notice. She set an Asian record of 2:19:39 in Beijing, so she will be among the favourites on Sunday.

Yingjie took some time to realise her potential at the distance. Indeed, her Beijing performance was her 18th marathon but one thing that could work against her in London is her relatively poor record outside her home country as far as the marathon is concerned. In six marathons outside China, Yingjie is yet to make the podium or run faster than 2:27.

Okayo – recovered from back injury

On contrast, Margaret Okayo has already proved she can run well in Europe, where she spends much of the year training in Brescia, Italy. She has set six course records in big city marathons and her 2:24:21 victory in New York five months ago was surely worth faster on a flatter course.

She has run 2:20:43 in Boston but having been chosen for the Olympics she felt London offered a better option as it would take longer to recover from the hills if she returned to America’s most prestigious spring marathon.

Okayo believes she can break 2:20 and insist she is recovered from the back injury that affected her in the Lisbon Half-marathon three weeks ago when she could only finish fifth.

Chepchumba looks for third London win

Winner that day was Kenyan compatriot Joyce Chepchumba, who has twice won London and is an athlete of great consistency. Now 33, Chepchumba may be an outsider to win but is sure to be in the frame.

Zakharova a threat too

When Chepchumba won her second London Marathon title in 1999, one of the pacemakers was Svetlana Zakharova. Since then the Russian has become a fine marathoner in her own right and has twice been second in London. Like Yingjie, she wasn’t an instant success as London will be the 25th marathon of her career and at the age of 33 she is still running strongly.

Third in the 2001 World Championships marathon, she set two Russian records the following year including her current best of 2:21:31 in Chicago, where she finished fourth.

Wami in the hunt too

Gete Wami has taken a low-key approach into the race but has an excellent pedigree on all surfaces and is unbeaten at the marathon, although she has admittedly only run the distance once. She made an impressive debut in Amsterdam in 2002, running 2:22:20 for an Ethiopian record and although she has been quiet since she must be seriously considered.

British fans have enjoyed a home victory in the last two years, but in the absence of Radcliffe they could be cheering on one of her greatest rivals, Wami, or a woman who almost considers London her second home, Chepchumba. Or it could be Europeans such as the experienced front-running Romanian Constantina Tomescu-Dita, who is likely to at least lead at some stage, or Russian duo Lyudmila Petrova or Albina Ivanova.

It really is wide open, which will at least make for an intriguing race after the last two years where by halfway the only question was how much Radcliffe would win by.

--------------------------------

Official Starters of the Flora London Marathon

Lamine Diack, President of the International Association of Athletics Federations, England's Rugby World Cup hero Jonny Wilkinson, and the World's first sub-four-minute miler Sir Roger Bannister, comprise an elite trio of starters for the main race at 09.45hrs on Sunday.