Irish Daily Mail

TRIO LINE UP FOR RECORD ATTEMPT

- By DAVID KENT

KENYA’S Eliud Kipchoge has the marathon world record firmly in his sights in Berlin tomorrow as he attempts a sub-two hour race. But he will have to outrun fellow record contenders Wilson Kipsang and Kenenisa Bekele to get there. Olympic champion Kipchoge, who has the third-fastest personal best time of two hours, three minutes and five seconds, is keen to break the twohour barrier and set a world record which currently stands at two hours, two minutes, 57 seconds. The 32-year-old came close during the Nike Breaking2 project, when he missed out by 24 seconds at Monza, though his time is not an official world record due to aspects of the event not satisfying IAAF criteria. ‘The Monza marathon was for me a big success and I got a lot of motivation from that,’ Kipchoge told reporters yesterday. ‘I want to run the first half in 60 minutes 45 seconds.’ ‘Victory alone is not success yet but it is necessary because it is three of us and there will be only one winner.’ Competitio­n could not be fiercer on the famously flat and fast streets of the German capital, home to the last six marathon world records. Three-time Olympic champion Bekele, of Ethiopia, can set a huge personal record if he finishes in word record time. He would become the first man to hold the marathon, 5,000 metres and 10,000 metre records simultaneo­usly. The 35-year-old came close in Berlin last year but lost out by six seconds.

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