African runners target marathon success in Asian races

Two IAAF marathons take place in Asia this weekend with both races boasting an African contingent with designs on victory.

Defending champion Yebrgual Melese of Ethiopia will return to the World Athletics Gold Label road race in Shanghai on Sunday. In the men’s race Paul Lonyangata of Kenya, the course record-holder is currently favoured for the title.

At the Kobe Marathon World Athletics Bronze Label road race on Sunday Kenyan course record holder Susan Jerotich will look to defend her title against four women with superior Personal Bests.

Melese and Lonyangata the favourites in Shanghai

Melese won the Shanghai Marathon comfortably last year, taking more than a minute off the course record with her 2:20:36. She will be eager to pick up her performance after a disappointing season in 2019. An 11th place in the Tokyo Marathon in March has been her best showing, but last month she clocked a promising 1:09:02 at the Lisbon Half Marathon.

Fellow Ethiopians Waganesh Mekasha and Fantu Jimma are also set to line-up in Shanghai. Mekasha has registered two sub-two-and-a-half-hour races this season clocking a PB in Dubai in January with a time of 2:22:45. It will be Jimma’s fourth marathon of the year, having won in Wuhan in 2:28:25 and finished third in Xiamen and Lanzhou. She was also victorious at the Changzhou West Taihu Lake Half Marathon in China last month.

The men’s race is also expected to produce a strong African challenge.

Lonyangata set his PB of 2:06:10 when winning the 2017 Paris Marathon, the first of two victories in the French capital. He set the Shanghai course record of 2:07:14 in 2015 and has a season’s best of 2:07:29, set when finishing third in Paris.

Another Kenyan runner Kipsang Kipkemoi will compete in China for the first time in his career. The 29-year-old Kenyan clocked his PB of 2:08:26 in Seville in 2017 and came close to that in April when he finished second in Madrid with 2:08:58. Sunday’s race will be his fourth marathon of the year as he has also competed in Mumbai and Cape Town but didn’t better 2:10 on either occasion.

Other sub-2:10 runners in the field include Kenya’s 2011 world silver medallist Vincent Kipruto and Ernest Ngeno, a 2:06:41 performer who finished second in Shanghai two years ago.

Jerotich back to defend title at Kobe Marathon

Jerotich, won the Kobe Marathon last year with a Personal Best (PB) and course record of 2:31:38, but will need to outdo four women on the start line sporting faster PBs than the US-based Kenyan athlete.

Kenya’s Mirriam Wangari and Betty Jepleting are also among the top contenders. Wangari, whose 2:27:53 PB makes her the fastest in the field, but she hasn’t raced for more than a year. The 40-year-old’s last run was a solid 2:31:36 clocked in Hengshui last September.

In the men’s race Ethiopia’s Tesfanesh Merga and Sisay Meseret Gola should feature among the lead pack in a race expected to be dominated by Japanese duo Yurie Doi and Kaori Yoshida.

Uganda’s Geoffrey Kusuro is one of the most accomplished runners in this year’s Kobe Marathon. The two-time Olympian competed at nine consecutive editions of the World Cross Country Championships between 2005 and 2015 but in recent years has turned his focus to road running.