Kipsang eyes IAAF glory
World marathon record holder Wilson Kipsang is among the 10-man shortlist for the IAAF 2013 World Athlete of the Year Award.
Fresh from setting a new mark 2:03: 23 at the Berlin Marathon, Kipsang will battle it out with World and Olympic champions Usain Bolt of Jamaica and Mohamed Farah of Britain who are his top challengers.
Kipsang broke the 2:03:38 record set two years ago by fellow countryman Patrick Makau who pulled out of the contest because of injury.
The athlete said he was inspired to break the record by five-time world cross country champion Paul Tergat.
“I was motivated by Tergat when he broke the world record here 10 years ago and I’m happy that I was in a position to break the record on the same course,” Kipsang said in a post-race interview.
New mark
The 2012 London Olympic Games bronze medallist and former London Marathon champion said he specifically trained for the Berlin race and planned for a new mark.
Kipsang said he received tips from Tergat who instructed him on how to train as he aimed for the record.
The 31-year-old runner is a two-time winner of the Frankfurt Marathon (2010 and 2011).
On the other hand, Bolt and Mo starred at the recent World Athletics Championships in Moscow where the Jamaican won gold in the 100 and 200 metres and Farah clinched a rare 5,000-10,000m double.
There is no Kenyan athlete on the women’s list.
Top Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce as well as Ethiopian long-distance stars Meseret Defar and Tirunesh Dibaba are on the line up.
The names will be cut to three after voting, the winners will be announced by the IAAF at a ceremony on November 16.