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Obiri has endorsed the 30-year-old athlete to be part of the three-woman Kenyan Olympic marathon team in Paris
Reigning Boston marathon champion Hellen Obiri has namechecked the one athlete she thinks will make the 2024 Paris Olympic Women’s marathon entertaining and competitive.
Obiri led an all-Kenyan podium swoop on Monday, with Sharon Lokedi and Edna Kiplagat finishing second and third respectively to cap off a good race for the country.
Her performance almost certified her presence in the three-woman lineup for the Olympic games, and there are now two slots left to fill to complete the team that will represent Kenya in Paris, with the gold medal in sight.
Obiri has namechecked Lokedi as the ideal teammate that will give her a run for her money, admitting that in the build up to her victory in Boston, the 30-year old gave her a genuine run for her money.
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“The Paris course is a tough course. It’s even tougher than Boston. If we have Sharon as my teammate in Paris, we will have a fantastic women’s race,” Obiri said in her post-race press conference.”
Obiri has described how she was made to toil hard for her victory in Boston by Lokedi in a separate interview with KTN News.
“Winning here has given me bonga points towards the Olympics,” Obiri joked.
“ Me and Sharon gave it a fight and ran well, so for Kenya to complete a podium swoop shows we are capable of making Paris easy for us.
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“Sharon is strong and I know her so well. When we had reached 40k (and had two kilometers) to go, I saw Sharon was here, so I tried everything I could to stay ahead.
“She was still keeping tabs on me, so for me, I decided that I would go toe-to-toe with her until the last 200m, then I saw she started lagging behind.”
Obiri has admitted Lokedi gave her a genuine run for her money which motivated her into doing as well as she did.
“But she gave me a challenge. If it weren’t for her, I do not think I would have raced as I did. I salute her.”
Lokedi will be closely watching the London Marathon on Sunday as former world record holder Brigid Kosgei, reigning Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir, and 2022 Chicago Marathon champion Ruth Chepngetich race against one of the deepest women’s marathon fields in history.
The case for Lokedi is that she’s proven herself on tough courses without pacers. She won the 2022 New York City Marathon in her debut.
She had to withdraw from the 2023 Boston Marathon before the race due to injury but returned with a strong third place finish (second Kenyan – only to Obiri again) at the New York City Marathon that fall. She would be a medal contender, if selected.
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