Will the 37-year-old double Olympic champion do better for his comeback in the German capital four years later?

This flat course, which ends at the Brandenburg Gate, right in the historic center, is particularly conducive to performances: the men's world record has been beaten there seven times in the 21st century.

Asked about his ambitions on Friday at a press conference in Berlin, Kipchoge said he "expects a very good race on Sunday".

"If I have a good race, I will beat my personal best," he said last weekend.

On the other hand, he had minimized his chances of falling below the mythical two-hour mark, a feat he is the only one to have achieved, but under special conditions.

It was in Vienna in 2019, during an event set up by him.

His fantastic time of 1 h 59 min 41 sec was not approved and is not considered a world record for 42.195 km: he was then helped by 41 "hares" who took turns in groups of seven around him, every 5 km.

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"A hero to me"

"I'm not going to run under two hours in Berlin, I'm just going to have a good run," he explained last weekend, while predicting that "one day a human being will run a normal marathon in less than two hours."

In Vienna, his family had supported him there.

In Berlin, "they will watch me on television, because the children have school" at the moment, he explained.

If he won the race on Sunday, he would equal the victory record of Ethiopian Haile Gebreselassie, four times winner in Berlin.

In the absence of his great Ethiopian rival Kenenisa Bekele, Eliud Kipchoge will have Guye Adola as his main opponent.

The Ethiopian had won the Berlin event in 2021 with a time of 2 h 05 min 45 sec.

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"I'm well prepared and I don't have any special plan in mind to beat him. He's also a hero for me," Adola said.

Among the women, the American Keira D'Amato, who broke the United States record last January (2h19:12) in Houston after seven years of absence, will have a hard time facing the two Kenyans, Vibian Chepkirui and Rosemary Wanjiru.

And, among the approximately 45,000 participants in the Berlin race, the former Brazilian football player Kaka, 2007 Golden Ball and 2002 world champion, will make his marathon debut.

He said Friday "as impatient as he was before the matches".

© 2022 AFP