World-record holder Eliud Kipchoge races his next marathon on April 11 in Hamburg, Germany, his last 26.2-mile race before defending his Olympic title at the Tokyo Games on Aug. 8.
It’s not a mass marathon, but an elite-only event with an estimated 100 invitees on a 10.5-kilometer loop. Every major city marathon scheduled for the winter and spring has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“In these challenging times and with the road race calendar for the first half of 2021 decimated by the pandemic, the involved parties were keen to arrange the race to provide a much-needed competitive opportunity for the athletes,” according to a press release.
Kipchoge, a 36-year-old with the fastest time in history of 2:01:39, will return to the site of his marathon debut in 2013. He made the move from the track after failing to make Kenya’s 2012 Olympic team.
In eight years, he has won 11 of his 13 marathons, plus run the only sub-two-hour marathon in history in a non-world-record-eligible event.
Kipchoge’s 10-race win streak ended at his last outing, the London Marathon on Oct. 4. He placed eighth, citing a blockage in his right ear over the last 10 miles and leg and hip cramping, but didn’t blame the rainy, 50-degree weather.
“In Hamburg, I am going back to the genesis of my marathon career,” Kipchoge said in a release.
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