Paris Marathon 2018 Elite Fields have been announced

Also, Rotterdam will be happening this weekend too, and a sole American is scheduled to compete there (unlike the 0 in Paris)

Maegan Krifchin 2:33:14 (Kobe 2017 1st)

Looks like a little better than usual. I didn't realise/had forgotten that Yenew Alamirew and Tariku Bekele had already run a marathon.

A couple of French Kenyans born in the 70s. Very interesting. Assuming they still live in Kenya, will be interesting to know how they ended up running under the French flag.

juddy96 wrote:

Also, Rotterdam will be happening this weekend too, and a sole American is scheduled to compete there (unlike the 0 in Paris)

Maegan Krifchin 2:33:14 (Kobe 2017 1st)

Both of these would be a great opportunity for an American to run fast.

grox wrote:

Looks like a little better than usual. I didn't realise/had forgotten that Yenew Alamirew and Tariku Bekele had already run a marathon.

That was exactly my thought. Alamirew was supposed to be one of the next great 3000/5000 guys.

Weak field, uninspiring.

El Keniano wrote:

A couple of French Kenyans born in the 70s. Very interesting. Assuming they still live in Kenya, will be interesting to know how they ended up running under the French flag.

They are married and I believe both live in France. Munyutu has represented France since the 2008 Olympics, while Komu also ran the 2008 Olympics but for Kenya.

Where's my name in there?

juddy96 wrote:

El Keniano wrote:

A couple of French Kenyans born in the 70s. Very interesting. Assuming they still live in Kenya, will be interesting to know how they ended up running under the French flag.

They are married and I believe both live in France. Munyutu has represented France since the 2008 Olympics, while Komu also ran the 2008 Olympics but for Kenya.

And Simon Munyutu and James Theuri have been French since 2006. I'm not sure where they all train, but probably in France because they compete in France all of the time.

Simon Munyutu:

Martha Komu:

James Theuri:

This is not Qatar.

Fixed it.

Yeah, I've just heard from a friend that they joined the French foreign region and that was their 'in' into running for France. I happen to know France well (grad school) and other than a few (mostly women) married to French nationals, there's hardly any living Kenyans there.

There was one other French-Kenyan guy (I forget his name) that moved back to Eldoret after he was busted for doping.

El Keniano wrote:

Yeah, I've just heard from a friend that they joined the French foreign region and that was their 'in' into running for France. I happen to know France well (grad school) and other than a few (mostly women) married to French nationals, there's hardly any living Kenyans there.

There was one other French-Kenyan guy (I forget his name) that moved back to Eldoret after he was busted for doping.

^ French Foreign LEGION, even.

El Keniano wrote:

There was one other French-Kenyan guy (I forget his name) that moved back to Eldoret after he was busted for doping.

That would be Abraham Kiprotich.

grox wrote:

Looks like a little better than usual. I didn't realise/had forgotten that Yenew Alamirew and Tariku Bekele had already run a marathon.

Looks like T. Bekele finally finished a marathon too. I remember his debut being a few years ago and that was the first of many DNFs.

Alamirew had his breakout year in 2010, running that 7:28 in Milano, seemingly out of nowhere; 7:27 indoors in early 2011; 12:48 in that stacked Paris 5K in 2012, then I believe he won the DL series for 3/5K the next year. After that he seemed to get slower and slower on the track; never a good championship runner.

He is an odd case ... only “debuted” in the 10K last year, running 27:19 for 3rd at the Ethiopian Trials race in Hengelo (but still not making the team). That ends up his only 10K and suddenly he is running the marathon in Dubai this year. That 2:08 time definitely doesn’t tell the entire story, as he was with the leaders on WR pace through 30K, if I’m remembering correctly. Pretty sure he has never even run a half ... almost straight from the 5K to the marathon.

grox wrote:

El Keniano wrote:

There was one other French-Kenyan guy (I forget his name) that moved back to Eldoret after he was busted for doping.

That would be Abraham Kiprotich.

https://spe15.fr/abraham-kiprotich-un-notable-au-kenya/

Thanks for this. So he's from Kapsabet and as at 2015, was still delusional and in denial? How did he participate in all those events without anyone noticing?

The French federation claimed they were getting suspicious as he would always train abroad, making it very difficult to test him. Before his positive test, they suspended him for 15 days apparently:

https://www.africatopsports.com/2013/04/21/abraham-kiprotich-il-est-pointe-par-la-ffa/

.

He is still French (of course) but has no licence in a French club as of now:

http://bases.athle.com/asp.net/athletes.aspx?base=resultats&seq=455443564752495047525148&saison=2013

(You can see he renewed his licence in 2012 for the last time.)

Apparently, some people at the FFA would not be very comfortable with him getting a licence and asking to compete for France:

https://www.trackandlife.fr/abraham-kiprotich-est-vraiment-de-retour/

. He has the second marathon performance for 2017 among French people:

http://bases.athle.com/asp.net/liste.aspx?frmpostback=true&frmbase=bilans&frmmode=1&frmespace=0&frmannee=2017&frmepreuve=295&frmcategorie=&frmsexe=M&frmnationalite=1&frmamini=&frmamaxi=&frmligue=&frmdepartement=&frmclub=&frmvent=&frmathlerama=&frmfcompetition=&frmfepreuve=&frmplaces=

Hahaha thanks Pappy! But I'm actually from Brazil!

T. Bekele has actually finished 2 marathons since that string of DNF's, 3rd at Chuncheon 2017 (2:09.33) and 2nd at Xiamen 2018 (2:11:29)

In terms of skipping the half marathon, Hanami Sekine, 10000m female Olympian for Japan also did that this year when she made her marathon debut in 2:23 in Nagoya

He says in article he's "proud to be French" and would like to compete for France again. Yet when it all came crashing down, he retreats to his home village of Kapsabet where he's put all his ill-gotten gains into building his primary residence and a life with wife and daughters. The article shows he's happy to be something of a local celebrity recognised and greeting everyone that passes by.

As far as I can tell, this guy had no intention of ever living long-term and settling down in France and therefore is no different from the mercenaries that run for Turkey and Qatar. France is/was a source of income for him, and an easy target because he wasn't good enough to make Kenyan teams, but also was never on the radar for poachers from Qatar and Bahrain. It's pretty obvious. I can't comment on the other three as I don't know much about them. But I'd like to see a video interview, like I said, I really hope they've at least bothered to learn the language.