Wilson Kipsang insists 99% of Kenyan runners are clean of doping
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Version 0 of 1. The two-time London marathon winner Wilson Kipsang believes that most of Kenya’s distance runners are clean despite a slew of positive drug tests. Around 40 Kenyan athletes have been banned in the past two years, including the 2013 and 2014 Boston and Chicago marathon winner Rita Jeptoo, but Kipsang believes “maybe 99%” of the country’s athletes can be trusted. Kipsang, who was speaking after confirming that he would return to contest the London Marathon in April and race the new world record holder Dennis Kimetto, claimed that more needs to be done to educate athletes. “There are great measures under way now in Kenya to protect the sport,” Kipsang said. “We have seen that many athletes don’t understand what is doping and so we are trying to create awareness and find out how they fall prey in this situation. The ban has been increased from two years to four years, which will also act as a deterrent.” London Marathon organisers, meanwhile, are delighted after signing up a field that they believe could be its strongest ever. The race not only pits Kipsang and Kimetto – the two fastest marathoners of all time – but also includes six other men who have run under 2hr 5min. The 5,000m and 10,000m world record holder Kenenisa Bekele will also appear in London for the first time. London Marathon’s international relations spokesman Dave Bedford said the competition would be good for the sport. “We are lucky we have an event where people don’t duck each other and the marathon is a stronger event for that,” he added. While London’s course is not as fast as Berlin, where Kimetto set a world record time of 2:02:57 in September, Kipsang believes a world record is achievable. “I could try to go for it in London,” he said. “It’s a very nice course. If the weather is OK and the guys are really ready to for a fast time it’s possible on that course.” Intriguingly, Kipsang said he would like the leading group to go through halfway in 61:35min – 10 seconds quicker than Kimetto’s time after 13 miles in Berlin. But Kipsang insists that with such a strong field he faces multiple threats. “Eliud Kipchogeis very strong as is Emmanuel Mutai,” he said. “I think even Bekele could be a good challenge and we saw last year what Stanley Biwott did. These are the guys that are really going to be the threat.” |