NAIROBI, Kenya, August 11- Olympic Marathon champion Samuel Wanjiru has put his injury problems behind him and is focused on defending his Chicago Marathon title.
Wanjiru who holds the Chicago course record of 2:05.41 said that he is going to use the October 10 event to prime himself to break the world record next year.
“I’ve undergone rehab on my knee in Italy. Now I’m focusing on Chicago where I hope I can defend my title,” said Wanjiru.
The former world half marathon record holder has set his sights on achieving the 2:02 mark in the full marathon in Dubai next year.
“I had a chat with my manager and we decided to go for Dubai instead of Berlin because I started my training late,” added Wanjiru.
The world record is currently held by Ethiopian legend Haile Gebrselassie who set a time of 2:03.59.
Wanjiru was speaking when plans for next month’s UAP Ndakaini Half Marathon were unveiled on Tuesday.
“Ndakaini is one of the toughest courses I’ve ever run both locally and internationally. I hope in future it can be an IAAF sanctioned event,” said the former Sportsman of the Year.
UAP Head of Marketing and Distribution Joseph Kamiri said that his company had sponsored this year’s edition to the tune of Sh5 million and announced that the prize money has been increased to Sh150,000 for the 21km race.
“This year’s edition is much bigger than the previous ones and is expected to attract more international runners,” said Kamiri.
The organizers are expecting 2000 runners up from last year’s 1300. The race will take place on September 18.
