Olympic champion Eilud Kipchoge is looking forward to taking on Britain’s Mo Farah when he attempts to win a third London Marathon in April 2018.
Kipchoge, 33, won the race in 2015 and 2016 and like Farah won a world title on the track – the 5,000m in 2003.
“It’s great he will be racing because I’m sure that will make the atmosphere more special,” said the Kenyan.
Farah, who has won six world and four Olympic titles over 5,000m and 10,000m, is racing in his third London Marathon.
In his first race in 2013, Farah pulled out as planned at the halfway mark and he finished eighth when completing the race in 2014, running a personal best of two hours, eight minutes, 21 seconds.
The 2018 London Marathon will be the first event on the road for Farah, 34, since he switched his focus to road racing.
And Kipchoge said: “It does take time to make that switch but I’m sure Mo will be successful.
“It’s great he will be racing the London Marathon because I’m sure that will make the atmosphere more special.”
Kipchoge added that the London Marathon had been important in his career, saying: “I came so close to breaking the world record in 2016 and it is natural for anyone in that situation to think of what might have been.
“But that race gave me the confidence to go on and win the Olympic title in Rio and run so well throughout 2017.”
Kipchoge went close to breaking the marathon world record in winning in Berlin in September, finishing in 2:03:32 – 36 seconds off the mark set by his countryman Dennis Kimetto in Berlin in 2014.
He won marathon gold at the Rio Olympics and came close to becoming the first athlete to run under two hours for the 26.2-mile distance in Italy in May in an unratified race.
Note: This story is auto-generated from ‘BBC News’ syndicated feed and has not been edited by Africa Prime News staff.