| Kenya To Name Olympics Marathoners After Boston, London, Rotterdam Marathons | ||||
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NAIROBI, Jan 19 (BERNAMA-NNN-KBC) -- Athletics Kenya will name the final 2012 London Olympics marathon team only after the Boston, London and Rotterdam marathons slated for April are held, says its chairman, Isaiah Kiplagat. He said this here Tueday when naming the country's provisional marathon squad of six men and six women led by reigning men's world record holder Patrick Makau. With Kenya's marathon runners making an unprecedented clean sweep of all six major races in 2011, Athletics Kenya faced a major challenge just to select the provisional marathon squad. And Kiplagat admitted that it was a dilemma before coming up with the final list, considering that 150 male athletes and 50 women had attained the Olympic qualification marks to qualify for selection. Makau leads the star studded men's provisional squad after an outstanding performance last year when he broke Ethiopian Haile Gebreselassie's three-year-old world record and also bagged his second consecutive Berlin Marathon title. Makau, as well as two-time world champion Abel Kirui, London Marathon champion Emmanuel Mutai , Frankfurt Marathon champion Wilson Kipsang, Chicago Marathon champion Moses Mosop and Boston Marathon champion Geoffrey Mutai will all be all eying the three available slots to London. World champion Edna Kiplagat leads the ladies onslaught, alongside London Marathon champion Mary Keitany, Paris Marathon champion Priscah Jeptoo, Berlin Marathon champion Florence Kiplagat, Sharon Chemutai and Lydia Cheronei. The provisiobnal squad will be training under Coach David Leting and the athletes have only seven days to confirm their inclusion in the London Olympics marathon provisional team. -- BERNAMA-NNN-KBC |