Kenya’s marathon star Duncan Kibet will make a return to the classic distance in Duesseldorf on 28th April. Organisers of the METRO GROUP Marathon Duesseldorf today confirmed the start of the 34 year-old. Back in 2009 Duncan Kibet won the Rotterdam Marathon with a sensational time of 2:04:27. At that time it was a Commonwealth record. No runner has ever entered a German spring marathon with such a fast personal best. The METRO GROUP Marathon Duesseldorf is an IAAF Bronze Label Road Race.
“The fact that Duncan Kibet will run the METRO GROUP Marathon Duesseldorf shows the fine development of our race in terms of elite runners. We are now able to bring world-class runners to Duesseldorf and it is our aim to build on this in the future,” said Race Director Jan Winschermann.
It was four years ago when Duncan Kibet took the Rotterdam Marathon after a thrilling sprint finish and established a Commonwealth record of 2:04:27. This time still stands as Rotterdam’s course record. At that time he was only 28 seconds slower than Haile Gebrselassie’s the world record. Naturally Kibet was regarded as one of the runners who could beat the global record. But then a series of injuries stopped the Kenyan. After running as a pacemaker in the Seoul Marathon recently he now returns to the full distance in Duesseldorf.
Four fellow-Kenyans are among his strongest rivals on 28th April. The most prominent one is David Barmasai. The 24 year-old sensationally won the Dubai Marathon in 2011 with a personal best of 2:07:18. He then was fifth in the World Championships’ marathon in Daegu (South Korea) in the same year. Paul Biwott (2:06:54), Duncan Koech (2:07:53) and Pius Ondoro (2:08:00) are the other three. Germany’s André Pollmächer is the main national contender in Duesseldorf. He ran his personal best of 2:13:09 in this race in 2009.
So far the fastest woman in the field is Melkam Gizaw from Ethiopia. She ran her personal best of 2:26:52 two years ago in Eindhoven. The 22 year-old will return to the METRO GROUP Marathon Duesseldorf, where she was third with 2:27:50 in 2012. More elite women will be announced at a later stage.