Can Kipchoge get back on track ahead of the Olympics?

World marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge has made his final preparations ahead of his first race appearance of the year in the NN Mission Marathon that will be held tomorrow in Enschede, the Netherlands.

Kipchoge will be looking to redeem himself after suffering a first marathon defeat in seven years following his eighth place finish in the London Marathon that took place in October 2020.

With only hours left to the marathon, Kipchoge, in a pre race press conference, revealed that he plans to enjoy the race bearing in mind the very difficult times that the whole world is currently going through.

“Personally I will be running a beautiful race. I call it beautiful because we are in a tough time because of the pandemic. I want to run a race to show the world that we are actually on a huge transition towards our great future again. That is my aim and I trust everyone will enjoy and come up with good results and a good race that will make everyone happy,” he said.

The first sub-two-hour marathon runner in history, who will be running in Enshede for the first time, will be leading the Kenyan team ahead of the Tokyo Olympics that are scheduled to start in July. Other Kenyan athletes who will be taking part in the race include Laban Korir, Jonathan Korir and Augustine Choge.

Under the tagline ‘The fastest way to Tokyo’ the 2021 NN Mission Marathon that will attract around seventy invited elite athletes at Twente Airport will provide a fantastic opportunity for athletes to chase personal bests and Tokyo Olympic qualification marks.

Organised by the NN Running Team and Global Sports Communication, the one-off marathon will take place at a specially designed looped course on Twente Airport. Initially, the marathon was supposed to be held in Hamburg but due to the local covid-19 situation in Germany, the organization was forced to find an alternative location for the race.

The race kicks off tomorrow Sunday, 18th April at 1030EAT.