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The duo of Bernard Koech and Dorcas Tuitoek are the Kenyans headlining strong fields ahead of Sunday's Amsterdam Marathon.
Bernard Koech and Dorcas Tuitoek will lead the Kenyan charge for Sunday’s Amsterdam Marathon, a World Athletics Platinum Label road race.
In the men’s race, the battle will be between Birhanu Legese and Koech, who have in the past puched each other to fast times at the TCS Amsterdam Marathon.
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As per World Athletics, The duo is among the nine sub-2:05 men in the field with Legese, a two-time Tokyo Marathon winner, will be looking to return to winning ways in the Dutch capital.
He was unable to finish the race at the London Marathon earlier this year and going to Amsterdam, he will look to clean up his CV.
His marathon PB of 2:02:48, set when finishing second in Berlin in 2019, makes him the fourth-fastest marathon runner of all time.
“I really want to run a fast time, with an eye on the Olympics,” he said at the pre-event press conference.
On his part, Koech is also looking to attack the course record of 2:03:39 and he has the benefit of experience.
"Amsterdam has a special place in my heart. I am running here for the fourth time and am as fit as I was two years ago,” he said.
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His PB time of 2:04:09 is the third-fastest mark recorded at the Amsterdam Marathon. He matched it with the time he ran to win the Hamburg Marathon in April, while he finished fourth in the Chicago Marathon last year.
He will be joined by compatriot Joshua Belet, who finished second behind Koech in Hamburg earlier this year after running 2:04:33 on his marathon debut. He went on to race at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest but did not finish.
Ethiopia’s Lemi Berhanu Hayle will also be in the mix while their fellow sub-2:05 athletes are Hailemaryam Kiros (2:04:41), Asrar Hiyrden (2:04:43), Cybrian Kotut (2:04:47), Barselius Kipyego (2:04:48) and Bazezew Asmare (2:04:57), who finished third in Amsterdam last year.
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Another Kenyan, Kennedy Kimutai, who has a half marathon PB of 58:28 from Valencia in 2021, makes his marathon debut.
In the women’s race, Ethiopia’s Bekere will be looking to add another success to a CV that includes wins in Berlin, Valencia and Rotterdam during her 12-year marathon career.
The 35-year-old set her PB of 2:17:58 when finishing second in Tokyo last year and she also has a 2:18:18 performance from London in 2021, when she placed third.
She makes her debut at the Amsterdam Marathon, where the course record is 2:17:20 set by Almaz Ayana last year.
"If all conditions cooperate, I want to show something special,” Bekere said.
She will be up against compatriot Tiruye Mesfin, who ran her PB of 2:18:47 when finishing sixth in Valencia in December. Mesfin, 21, finished second in Hamburg in April, running 2:20:18, and she will be racing her third career marathon in Amsterdam. She ran a half marathon PB of 1:06:31 in Lisbon in March.
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Meanwhile, Tuitoek, who won the Hamburg Marathon in a PB of 2:20:09 ahead of Mesfin earlier this year, will hope to challenge the Ethiopian duo.
Another Ethiopian, Sisay Meseret Gola, who set her PB of 2:20:50 when finishing second in the 2022 Seville Marathon will also be eyeing victory in the Dutch capital. The 25-year-old also finished fifth in that year’s Berlin Marathon and was runner-up in the Osaka Women's Marathon in January.
Marion Kibor, and Linet Masai, will join Tuitoek in the search for glory. Masai is the 2009 world 10,000m champion and she ran her marathon PB of 2:23:46 in Amsterdam in 2018. Ethiopia’s Sofia Assefa, who claimed 3000m steeplechase silver at the London 2012 Olympics, is set to make her marathon debut.
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