World marathon record holder (mixed gender) Brigid Kosgei is in dilemma on which race to participate in come October.
The London Marathon was postponed from April to October 4 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the Kapsait-based athlete, she was in good shape in March and looking forward to the season before Covid-19 outbreak struck leading to the suspension of the athletics calendar.
“My preparations for the London Marathon race where I was going to defend my title were in top gear because I had less than two months to finalise my programme before coronavirus disrupted it,” said Kosgei at her home.
She was also named in the Kenya marathon team to the Olympic Games which were postponed to next year due to the virus.
She said that her programme had been all geared towards defending her title in London race then preparing for an assault on Tokyo Olympics gold.
“But now I have to wait for to next year. I believe I will still be in good shape to run and win the race,” said Kosgei, who is under Rosa Associati management.
With five months to go before the London and Chicago marathons are held Kosgei has all the time to decide as she picks up on her training.
Kenya's Brigid Kosgei smiles after winning the women's 2019 Bank of America Chicago Marathon with the World Record on October 13 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. PHOTO | KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI |
She is currently training individually in Eldoret, following the government directives of social distancing. “When the camps were closed, the only thing possible was to training a lone. So I am doing that here in Eldoret, but how I miss competitive running. I cannot wait for things to return to normal,” she said.
She has also been tending to her five-acre potato farm in Kapsait, with the help of her husband Mathew Kosgei whom she says has been very supportive of her career.
Kosgei won last year’s prestigious London Marathon with a time of 2:18:20 ahead of compatriot Vivian Cheruiyot who clocked 2:20:14 while Ethiopia’s Rosa Dereje was third in 2:20:51.
She broke the women’s marathon record in Chicago last year clocking 2 hours, 14 minutes and 04 seconds.
“With good preparations, I still believe a new world record time is still achievable and I will be giving it another attempt. I won’t say when and which race but I will be trying it soon,” she confessed.
Last year, she ran the fastest half marathon time in history at the Great North Half Marathon race clocking 1:04:28, 23 seconds faster than the world record time of 1:04:51 set by Joyciline Jepkosgei in 2017.
