London Reveals Its 2011 Fields
Women's Field Is Called "Undoubtedly Our Strongest Ever" And Men's Field Includes 5 Sub-2:05:30 Guys
Courtesy Of The Virgin London Marathon
December 16, 2010
Others
likely to feature in the leading pack include Ethiopian Bazu Worku,
third in Berlin; Morocco's Abderrahime Bouramdane, fourth on his London
debut this year; two-times New York winner Marilson Gomes dos Santos of
Brazil; and Viktor Röthlin, the Swiss runner who took the European title
in Barcelona in August.
Shobukhova
will undoubtedly start as favourite in the women's race. She completed a
brilliant year in October when she broke the Russian record to win the
Chicago marathon and claim the women's World Marathon Majors prize.
Shobukhova
took the London crown from Irina Mikitenko, the 2008 and 2009 champion
who dropped out in 2010 after struggling with an injury. But the German
will be back to challenge Shobukhova again along with 2007 champion Zhou
Chunxiu, the Chinese woman who recently retained her Asian Games title.
Zhou
will be joined by her compatriot, the world champion Bai Xue, while
Romania's Olympic champion Constantina Dita returns for her 10th London
Marathon. The 2011 race will also feature Ethiopians Bezunesh Bekele and
Askale Tafa, who finished fourth and fifth respectively in 2010, and
Aberu Kebede, the Berlin winner.
Edna
Kiplagat, the newly-crowned New York champion, leads the Kenyan
challenge supported by Mary Keitany, who was third in New York. The
Dutchwoman Lornah Kiplagat, fifth in 2007 and a former world half
marathon champion, returns to London for the first time for four years.
Mara Yamauchi will again carry British hopes. Runner-up in 2009, Yamauchi is hoping to make up for her disappointing 10th place this year - after an epic, energy-sapping six-day journey to avoid the volcanic ash cloud - and a below par performance in New York last month when she was 13th. The Japan-based Briton will be keen to get back on track against such a high quality international field.
London
will also welcome back British Olympian Liz Yelling for the first time
since 2008, while two seasoned British internationals make their
marathon debuts. Yelling will be joined by her sister-in-law Hayley
Yelling, the former European cross-country champion, while Jo Pavey also
makes her first outing over 26.2 miles.
After an encouraging eighth place last year, Andrew Lemoncello returns in the men's race aiming to improve his personal best.
Fields
for the UK championship races will be boosted by a new set of
British-only time bonuses for finishers under 2:19:00 in the men's and
2:40:00 in the women's rising to an $8,000 award for sub-2:11 or
sub-2:31 performances.
| Elite athletes and their best marathon times Men Tsegaye Kebede ETH 2:05:18 Patrick Makau KEN 2:04:48 Samuel Wanjiru KEN 2:05:10 Abel Kirui KEN 2:05:04 Bazu Worku ETH 2:05:25 Jaouad Gharib MAR 2:05:27 Emmanuel Mutai KEN 2:06:15 Viktor Röthlin SUI 2:07:23 Abderrahime Bouramdane MAR 2:07:33 Yonas Kifle ERI 2:07:34 José Manuel Martinez ESP 2:08:09 Marilson Gomes dos Santos BRA 2:08:37 Dmitry Safronov RUS 2:10:12 Reid Coolsaet CAN 2:11:23 Eric Gillis CAN 2:12:08 Dylan Wykes CAN 2:12:39 Cuthbert Nyasango ZIM 2:12:40 Mike Shelley AUS 2:13:05 Michael Aish USA 2:13:21 Andrew Lemoncello GBR 2:13:40 Collis Birmingham AUS Debut Mohamed Trafeh USA Debut |
Elite athletes and their best marathon times |
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Runner's World &
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