Nairobi (AFP)

Eliud Kipchoge, reigning Olympic champion, world record holder and first man to pass under 2 hours over the distance, will be the leader of the Kenyan selection for the Olympic Games marathon in August in Sapporo, disclosed on Friday.

Kipchoge entered the history, not only of the marathon but of the sport, passing under the bar hitherto reputed to be insurmountable of the 2 hours on the 42.195 km last October in Vienna, during an unofficial marathon mounted to measure him.

The world record holder (2:01:39 in Berlin in 2018) has won twelve of the thirteen marathons he has contested in his career (since 2013) and will calibrate in April at the London marathon, against the Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele, past very close to robbing him of his record in September (2h01: 41 in Berlin).

The Kenyan women's selection promises to be formidable and will be led by the new world record holder Brigid Kosgei (2h14: 04) and by the reigning world champion in the specialty Ruth Chepngetich.

Vivian Cheruiyot, quadruple world champion (2 times in 5,000 and twice in 10,000 m) and Olympic champion in 5,000 m, is also in the selection.

She will compete in Japan, at 36, her fifth Olympic Games, but her first in the shoes of a marathon runner.

"This is the best Kenyan selection we have ever seen, and I am proud to be part of it," said the first Kenyan woman to double the 5,000 / 10,000m double at the Worlds in 2011.

Kenyans will try to make Japan forget the memory of Jemima Sumgong, who became the first of his country crowned Olympic marathon champion at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, before being tested positive at the EPO almost a year later and suspended for four years.

Decentralized in Sapporo in the north of the country to avoid the dreaded heat of August in Tokyo, the ladies and gentlemen marathons of the Olympic Games will take place on August 8 and 10 respectively.

The Kenyan selection for the 2020 Olympic Games:

. Gentlemen: Eliud Kipchoge, Lawrence Cherono, Amos Kipruto, Bedan Karoki, Titus Ekiru

. Ladies: Brigid Kosgei, Ruth Chepngetich, Vivian Cheruiyot, Valerie Ayabei, Sally Chepyego

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