Kenya’s Kipchoge to skip 2017 London Marathon

Nairobi, Jan 20 (IANS) Kenya's Olympic marathon champion Elud Kipchoge said he will not take part in this year's London Marathon scheduled for April.

Kipchoge, who is also the London Marathon defending champion, has instead opted to take part in the Breaking 2 Marathon whose date and venue is yet to be determined, reports Xinhua.

"I normally plan for only one race in a year. I have already embarked on training for the Breaking 2 Marathon, which is an event that aims at having the first runner to run the full marathon in under two hours," Kipchoge told Xinhua on Thursday night in Nairobi during the occasion to reward the country's top sports personalities of 2016.

Kipchoge, 32, retained the Londong Marathon title last year in a time of 2:03.05 hours, only eight second off the world record that currently stands at 2:02.57 which was set by countryman Dennis Kimetto during the 2014 Berlin Marathon.

Even without a world record to his name, but with the third fastest time in history, Kipchoge is currently considered as the best marathon runner in the world with seven victories in elite races including the Olympics.

Kipchoge, who on Thursday night was crowned Kenya's top sportsman of 2016 during the Sports Personalities of the Year Awards (SOYA) gala event, revisited the Olympic Marathon event where he missed his water bottle at one of the water points, saying the misfortune did not affect his performance.

"I didn't see my water at the water point. Those are the challenges of the game and I turned the misfortune into luck and proceeded to win the Olympic title," the champion said.