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London (AFP)
Eliud Kipchoge and Kenenisa Bekele, the two fastest marathon runners of all time, said there were too many variables to predict a world record in Sunday’s London Marathon.
Event director Hugh Brasher believes it is possible to break records on the fast and flat track, despite possible rain and training disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Ethiopia’s Bekele, a 10,000-meter double Olympic champion, was just two seconds behind Kipchoge’s world record of 2:01:39 when he won last year’s Berlin Marathon.
Rather than the traditional route, the London Race, in which only elite runners participate, will take place on a new looping circuit comprising 19.6 laps of St James’s Park in central London, with no crowds.
When asked if a world record was possible, 38-year-old Bekele said: “It’s a new course. Unless we can check at least the first time or before this, if someone did it on this course, you can guess. “.
“But right now it’s really hard to say if it’s a really fast course or not. Anything is possible if things go well.”
Four-time London winner Kipchoge, 35, said he was happy to be back in action after nearly a year on the sidelines due to the pandemic.
The Kenyan said he wasn’t worried about running laps, but Bekele said he would rather do a great circuit in the British capital.
“It is not an easy thing,” he said. “It’s a long road and maybe at some point you’re losing some speed because of the curve. I don’t know how much of a curve it is, we’ll see it on Sunday.
Both runners admitted that the race would have a different feel without tens of thousands of fans lined up on the route.
“Crowds play a huge role, especially in marathons,” Kipchoge said. “Sunday will be a different race where it will be a feeling of silence. Maybe a little music, but not music from the mouths of the normal crowd.”
The Kenyan defended the use of the controversial carbon fiber sneakers he used to break the two-hour barrier in Austria in October 2019, which did not count as a world record due to special conditions, including the use of rotary pacemakers.
“We live in the 21st century where we first have to accept change … We have to accept technology in our hearts, move on,” he said.
Along with the elite race, a total of 45,000 runners from around the world who cannot participate in the race due to the pandemic will attempt to complete 42 kilometers during a 24-hour period from midnight to midnight on Sunday.
© 2020 AFP
