Gold medalist Constantina Dita und WMM champ Irina Mikitenko are among the top seeds at the London Marathon Sunday. © www.photorun.net
Whoever wins the London Marathon on Sunday is sure to be ranked as one of best marathoners in the world. No other big-city marathon has a field like London’s. The seed times are amazing: Seven men have run under 2:07 hours and eight women own lifetime PRs under 2:22. The men’s field will be aiming to break the world marathon record, 2:03:59, set by Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie in Berlin last year. Pacemakers have been recruited to help the lead runners accomplish this lofty goal.
Although London’s first-place purse ($55,000 for the winner) is small compared to other major marathons, its appearance fees are the highest in the world. The race director, Dave Bedford, was allotted a seven-figure sum to spend on recruiting the top stars. Among them are two of Kenya’s best marathoners—Olympic champion, Sammy Wanjiru as well as Martin Lel. Wanjiru and Lel are the favorites to break the world record. In the women’s field, the top seed is the German record holder, Irina Mikitenko. Both Lel and Mikitenko won the World Marathon Majors (WMM) last fall, sharing the million-dollar prize. They will toe the line Sunday as defending champions.
At the age of only 22, the Olympic champion, Sammy Wanjiru, ran an amazing race in Beijing last summer. In the unbearable heat and humidity, he dominated the field and ran 2:06:32 hours—a time which no other runner has ever run in the Olympics. This stunning Olympic performance coupled with the fact that he owns the half-marathon world record (58:33 minutes), makes him a clear favorite in London. However, he placed seventh last month in a half-marathon in Lisbon in 61:23 which may indicate he isn’t invincible. Despite his less-than-optimal race in Lisbon, Wanjiru has remained upbeat about his prospects. “If the pace making is right, I’ll try to break the world record,” he said.
Wanjiru and Lel have already raced once in London. In last year’s race, Lel ran 2:05:15, finishing nine seconds ahead of Wanjiru. If Lel wins on Sunday, he will be the first man to win four times (2005, 2007 and 2008).One other runner has also won three times: Dionicio Ceron of Mexico (1994-96). Martin Lel might be handicapped, however, by a slight hip injury. If the two Kenyan aces (both coached by Italian coach Dr. Gabriele Rosa) don’t win, a debutant at the marathon might steal the show: the world half marathon champion, Zersenay Tadese from Eritrea.
The women’s field is equally strong, although the world-record holder, Paula Radcliffe of Britain, will unfortunately miss the race because of a broken toe. “Even without Paula the field is the strongest we’ve ever had in London. I’m sure we’ll have a great race,” said race director Dave Bedford. In addition to Irina Mikitenko, all three medalists from Beijing will be running: the Olympic champion, Constantina Dita of Romania (2:21:30), silver medalist Catherine Ndereba from Kenya (2:18:47), and the third-place finisher, Chunxiu Zhou of China (2:19:51) who won London two years ago. In terms of personal bests, which are not necessarily the decisive factor in a race like this, Mikitenko is the top-seeded runner in the field.
It was in London last year where Mikitenko established herself as among the world’s elite marathoners. In that race, neither her rivals nor the British bookmakers rated her chances very high (18-1). The odds on her winning have improved dramatically this year (5-4)—for good reason. She won the Paderborn 10K earlier this month, running a 31:22 which is the second-fastest time in the world this year. “I’ve been training well and am looking forward to the London Marathon. My goal is to win every race,” said Mikitenko who has increased her weekly training volume by ten percent to a peak of 220 kilometers compared to last year.
A record 155,000 runners applied to participate in the London Marathon with 50,000 accepted via a lottery system.
