Chebet won from 2011 to 2013 and this year faces fellow 2:05 men Mule Wasihun and Stephen Chebogut plus Zane Robertson and Tesfaye Abera (2:04:23 to win Dubai last year)

Even without Eliud Kipchoge, the 2017 London race is LOADED as Bekele (Berlin), Ghebreslassie (NYC), Kirui (Chicago) & Wanjiru (Amsterdam) all won big fall marathons, while Lilesa took Olympic silver in Rio. Kenyan stud Bedan Karoki ('15 World XC/'16 World Half silver) is also making his debut.

LRC supervisitor David Graham has rolled out his 2016 world rankings plus plenty more thoughts on the year in men's marathoning. Obviously the great Kipchoge is #1, but where does Rupp rank?

Kipchoge has won six of his seven career marathons (including four straight) and is coming off one of the greatest marathon performances in history (his 2:03:05 CR in London). He's certainly the favorite, but this will be his first marathon without rabbits. He'll be challenged by NYC champ Stanley Biwott, Dubai champ Tesfaye Abera, Boston champ Lemi Berhanu plus reigning Olympic champ Stephen Kiprotich and reigning world champ Ghirmay Ghebreslassie.

Galen Rupp and Meb Kefelzighi, you just caught a major break as Ethiopia definitely didn't select its three best marathoners for its Olympic team. Kenenisa Bekele is staying home as is women's world leader Tirfi Tsegaye. *MB: Ethiopian marathon team announced: Picks are as debatable as Kenya's.

Melkamu smashed the course record by more than 2-minutes to win easily over defending champion Meseret Hailu while Abera got a 22-second victory over  Philemon Rono. *Finish Video

Abera faces five fellow sub-2:08 men while Melkamu is up against the defending champion Meseret Hailu (2:21:09), Madi Perez (2:22:59) and several other sub-2:30 women. *Free Live Stream Sunday At 2:30AM ET

This race had it all. A WR for 30k, a lead change in the final 500 and a shocking win by a previous 2:09 guy.