Abbott World Marathon Majors Begins Series X: Boston, London Preview

Many of the world’s greatest marathon runners return to the roads next week as Series X of the Abbott World Marathon Majors begins with two races in six days.

Less than two months after Series IX came to a thrilling conclusion at the Tokyo Marathon 2016, Series X starts at the Boston Marathon on April 18, followed swiftly by the Virgin Money London Marathon on April 24.

There is much to race for in this Olympic year as athletes chase selection places and early-series AbbottWMM points with US$1 million in prize money to be won by the best male and female marathon runners over the 12-month, eight-race program.

With the men’s and women’s Rio Olympic and Paralympic marathons next on the agenda and a packed autumn schedule of AbbottWMM races in Berlin, Chicago and New York to come, a point-scoring place in the top five at one of these two spring races will put athletes in a prime position to challenge for the award when Series X concludes in a year’s time.

Athletes of Note in Men’s Boston Marathon Field

The Series finishes at the 2017 Boston Marathon next April, but first up is the 120th Boston race, an event which features both reigning champions from 2015, an Olympic gold medallist from 2012 and two men who placed in the top five at the end of Series IX – that’s 2015 Boston winner Lelisa Desisa and fellow Ethiopian Yemane Tsegay who was second last year and went to win a silver medal at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing.  

Two-time Boston champion Desisa ran a total of four marathons last year, winning Boston, finishing third in New York, second in Dubai, and placing seventh at the World Championships.   Tsegay has won eight global marathons.

They are just two of six men in the field who hold personal bests under 2:05, while no fewer than ten have run the 26.2 miles quicker than 2:06. Sammy Kitwara is the fastest in the line-up thanks to his PB of 2:04:28 from the 2014 Bank of America Chicago Marathon where he was second last year.

Fellow Kenyan Wilson Chebet will be hoping to move up the podium in 2016 after placing third last year, while former Boston champion Wesley Korir and former Tokyo champion Michael Kipyego both know what it takes to win a Marathon Majors race.  Korir has run Boston three times and is one of the most consistent marathoners in the world, having won Boston in 2012 and the Los Angeles Marathon twice.

Tsegaye Mekonnen and Hayle Lemi Berhanu will also be among the favorites, having run quick times on Dubai’s flat course in recent years, while another Ethiopian Getu Feleke also belongs to the sub-2:05 club thanks to his PB from Rotterdam in 2012.

The fast trio of Lemi Berhanu Hayle, Stephen Chebogut and Deribe Robi will also contend for the win. Hayle is the 2015 Dubai and Warsaw champion. Chebogut has won marathons in Eindhoven, Reims and Istanbul, while Robi was runner-up in Eindhoven last year and won Marrakesh in 2014. All three men ran their personal best marathon times in 2015.

U.S. elite men include Ian Burrell, who finished as the first American at the World Championships Marathon this past summer, Girma Mecheso, who won the 2014 U.S. 20K Championships, and Jordan Chipangama, who is from Zambia, but lives and trains in America. Chipangama has won both the San Diego and San Jose Half Marathons.

Athletes of Note in Women’s Boston Marathon Field

Feleke’s wife Tiki Gelana tops the entry list for the women’s race. The Olympic champion is making her Boston Marathon debut as she gears up to defend her gold medal in Rio.

Among those who will be trying to deny her victory are a string of fast fellow-Ethiopians, including Tirfi Tsegaye, this year’s Dubai Marathon champion, and Buzunesh Deba, who was second in Boston two years ago and third in 2015.

Winning on the historic Boston course isn’t always about quick times, however, as Caroline Rotich found when she triumphed last year. Rotich returns to defend her title in 2016 alongside fellow Kenyan Joyce Chepkirui who will be hoping to top the podium this year after twice being runner-up.

Deba finished second in Boston in 2014 and third last year, and is the champion of eight marathons held in the United States. Tsegaye has won marathons in Berlin, Tokyo, Paris and Dubai.

Bringing Boston experience to the race are three-time Olympian Jelena Prokopcuka, who is a two-time New York City winner and two-time Boston runner up and Olympian Joyce Chepkirui, who won both Amsterdam and Honolulu last year, and finished tenth in Boston.

American Neely Spence Gracey will make her highly anticipated marathon debut in Boston. She comes to the race with a 1:09:59 half marathon personal best.  Sarah Crouch (formerly Sarah Porter) joins Spence Gracey as part of the American contingent. Crouch finished sixth in Chicago in 2014 and was 12th last year. From China, Lamei Sun will make her Boston debut. Sun won the Dongying Marathon and was runner-up in Beijing in 2012.

Athletes of Note in Men’s London Marathon Field

If Boston looks like a tasty Series starter, then the main course in London is mouth-watering indeed, with some of the quickest runners of all time set to battle for AbbottWMM points, including Series IX winners Eliud Kipchoge and Mary Keitany, the men’s Series VIII champion, Wilson Kipsang, and the women’s Series VII champion, Priscah Jeptoo.

Add to the mix the men’s world record holder, Dennis Kimetto, who was third behind Kipchoge and Kipsang last year; current world champions Ghirmay Ghebreslassie and Mare Dibaba; and the defending London champions, Kipchoge and Tigist Tufa, and you have two superb races in prospect.

And that’s without mentioning Ethiopia’s multi-world record breaking track legend Kenenisa Bekele in the men’s line up; and half marathon world record holder and last year’s Chicago champion, Florence Kiplagat, in the women’s.

Kipchoge’s superb record of five wins and one second place from six marathon starts since 2013 makes him the marginal favorite;  from a men’s field that contains the top five finishers from 2015, four men who have run under 2:05, and 17 who have finished quicker than 2:10.

Kipsang will be keen for revenge, however, after he had to settle for second last year. Kimetto will also feel he has something to prove after dropping out of the World Championship race and failing to finish December’s Fukuoka Marathon.

The big three will face a strong challenge from another Kenyan, however, for Stanley Biwott added much to his credentials by taking his first AbbottWMM victory in New York last November.

Bekele will also attract much attention as he seeks to make his mark on a long-awaited return to road running after a year out with injury. He is joined by a talented Ethiopian trio who have all run quicker than 2:06 –Tilahun Regassa, who was fifth last year, Sisay Lemma, the 2015 Frankfurt champion, and last year’s Rotterdam winner, Abera Kuma.

Ghebreslassie was a surprise world champion in Beijing, and the 20-year-old makes his first appearance in London alongside four Eritrean compatriots all with their eyes on the podium.

Athletes of Note in Women’s  London Marathon Field

As for the women’s race, Tufa is hoping to repeat her upset victory last year when she outran four much-fancied Kenyans. She returns to the British capital determined to show that performance was no fluke after finishing sixth at the Worlds and third in New York to place fifth in the final Series IX standings.

The 28-year-old denied Mary Keitany a third London victory last year and the Kenyan will be the champion’s main threat again in 2016. Keitany is the fastest woman on the start list thanks to her African record of 2:18:37 set when winning her second London crown in 2012. She is one of eight in the women’s field with PBs better than 2:21, while four have run the 26.2-mile challenge in under 2:20.

Dibaba is one of that quintet, with a best of 2:19:52. A former Bank of America Chicago Marathon champion, she runs in London for the first time after finishing level with Keitany on points at the top of last year’s leaderboard.

London’s sub-2:20 club also includes Kiplagat, who runs London for the fifth time seeking her first victory, and Aselefech Mergia, a three-time winner of the Dubai Marathon who was fourth last year.

The four-strong Kenyan challenge is completed by Jeptoo, the Olympic bronze medallist who was a London Marathon winner three years ago, and Jemima Sumgong, a former Rotterdam Marathon champion who was sixth in 2015.

Abbott World Marathon Majors Wheelchair Series X

The world’s greatest wheelchair athletes will also be in action next week as the first ever Abbott World Marathon Majors Wheelchair Series gets underway at the Boston Marathon.

This will run in parallel to the runners’ program, with T53/54 wheelchair athletes winning points for finishing in the top five places at the same six big city races, plus the men’s and women’s marathons at September’s Paralympic Games in Rio.

Athletes must enter at least five of the eight races while prize money of $100,000 will be divided equally between the top male and female point-scorers when the Series ends at the 2017 Boston Marathon next April.

Many of the big names in wheelchair racing will be on the start lines in Boston and London next week, including last year’s world champions and reigning London Marathon champions, Joshua George and Tatyana McFadden, both of USA; the 2012 men’s Paralympic champion and six-times London Marathon winner, David Weir of Britain; USA’s women’s Paralympic champion, Shirley Reilly; the women’s world record holder, Manuela Schär of Switzerland; Marcel Hug, another Swiss star, a former men’s world champion and last year’s Boston winner; and Australia’s Kurt Fearnley, a former double Paralympic and double world champion who holds the London course record and won the Chicago Marathon last October.

And we shouldn’t forget Ernst van Dyk on the men’s side, the South African athlete who has won no fewer than 10 Boston titles, and Wakako Tsuchida on the women’s, the Japanese veteran who has won five Boston and nine straight Tokyo Marathons, including this year’s race in February when she handed the all-conquering McFadden her first defeat in three years and 14 races.

With a new, year-long schedule, and more to compete for than ever before, the first AbbottWMM Wheelchair Series represents a new milestone for para-athletics marathon racing.

Source: Abbott World Marathon Majors