Ugandan top male marathoner Stephen Kiprotich will be the last athlete to represent Uganda at the London Olympics today. The national record holder will run through the streets of London at 1PM Ugandan time as he makes his Olympic debut. And with Moses Kipsiro off the list for the medal hunt, Kiprotich will be the last to seek an end to Uganda’s 16 year medal haul at the London Games.
But he will have a tough task to beat the Kenyan trio in Emmanuel Mutai, Wilson Kipsang and Abel Kirui in the 26.2mile (42.625km) race. And with the late Samuel Wanjiru having won gold in the event at the Beijing Games, it will move as a motivation to the three but Kiprotich is confident. “I am ready for war,” he told Kawowo Sports. “I will do my best to make my country proud” Kiprotich added. And with the weather being undulant, Kiprotich says he will mind less in order to avoid pressure. The Kenyans are favourites to clinch the gold.
Abel Kirui
He won the 2008 edition of the Vienna Marathon setting a new course record of 2:07:38. He set his personal best (2:06:51) in the classic distance on September 30, 2007 at the Berlin Marathon, where he finished second after Haile Gebrselassie, who set a new marathon world record. The time made Kirui the sixth fastest marathoner in 2007.
He finished third in the 2009 Rotterdam Marathon 2:05:04 after fellow Kenyans Duncan Kibet and James Kwambai, making him the sixth fastest marathoner ever.
He also won the Paderborn Half-Marathon in 2007. On August 22, 2009 he took gold over his teammate Emmanuel Mutai who took silver at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin at a record time of 2:06:54.
Wilson Kipsang
He competed in his first IAAF World Half Marathon Championships at the end of that year, taking fourth place with a time of 1:00:08. In 2010 he made his marathon debut at the Paris Marathon in April 2010, and he finished third in a time of 2:07:13 hours, half a minute behind the winner Tadesse Tola. He won the Frankfurt Marathon in October in a new course record 2:04:57 hours, this time beating Tadesse by over a minute. His new personal best made him the eighth fastest marathoner ever.
He won his third race over the distance at the 2011 Lake Biwa Marathon, defeating Deriba Merga to win in a course record of 2:06:13 hours. He began 2012 with a third place finish at the RAK Half Marathon. He went on to win the London marathon in April in 2:04:44, just four seconds short of the course record set the previous year by Mutai.
Emmanuel Kipchirchir Mutai
Mutai won his first World Marathon Major event in April 2011, taking the title at the 2011 London Marathon with a course record and new personal best time of 2:04:40. This made him the fourth fastest runner ever over the distance. He was one of the favourites for the Great North Run, but it was half marathon specialist Martin Mathathi who took the honours and Mutai finished in third position.
His next major race was the 2011 New York City Marathon and his time of 2:06:28 hours was faster than the course record, although he was second place to Geoffrey Mutai who was even faster. He attempted to defend his title at the 2012 London Marathon, but ended up in seventh some way off the winner Wilson Kipsang, who broke Mutai’s record. Following the injury of Moses Mosop, he was drafted into the Kenyan Olympic marathon team as a replacement.