Family affair driving Lagat to marathon glory
BERNARD Lagat is already the second fastest 1500m runner of all time but the five-time Olympian isn’t even the fastest in his family.
The US track star, who has won 13 medals across his Olympic and world championship appearances, will tomorrow run his second marathon when he competes on the Gold Coast. Before he even thinks about stealing the crown from three-time winner Kenneth Mungara, Lagat said he would first look to beat his brother Nathan’s personal best of 2:12:06. “We told William ‘hey, you should go and break our older brother William’s record of 2:12:10,” he said.
“I told them that I was going to go to Australia and run faster than you both.”
After an illustrious middle and long-distance running career, the 44-year-old ran his first marathon in New York last year in 2:17:20 as he sets his sights on an incredible sixth Olympics, though this time, in the longest race of all. “The first was hard,” he said. “I’m used to running 1500m and 5000m was probably the most I could do.
“Hopefully I can run 2:11:30 which is A-standard for the Olympics and then we’ll see what happens in Atlanta for 2020 Olympic trials.”
Lagat revealed he spent seven weeks training in the high altitude of Colorado, USA, to prepare for tomorrow.
“This is the best I can be so ... I’ve done everything I need to,” he said.
After finding the perfect marathon location in the Gold Coast, Lagat said he’d also spend an extra week here taking in the sights with son Miika, though don’t expect the teen to join his dad on the track.
“I told him to do it and he made a point of not packing any running shoes,” he said.
“He’s a tennis player so I don’t blame him for not wanting to run.”
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