NAIROBI, Kenya, February 16- Chicago and Tokyo marathons champion, Dennis Kimetto remains hopeful, he will recover in time from a painful ankle to compete at the Boston Marathon on April 21.
Kimetto twisted his ankle in training last week, a move that forced him to pull out of last Friday’s RAK Half Marathon in the United Arab Emirates.
“I had to pull out. I had no time to recover and the only thing to do was to get out of the race,” said Kimetto from Eldoret.
However, the 29-year-old has already resumed training as he bids to return to top shape before jetting out to Boston in April.
“I have resumed training now. I will not be running in any other event for now until after the Boston marathon. RAK Half Marathon was supposed to help me gauge my preparedness, but unfortunately, I could not make it.”
“However, it is not all lost. The injury was not severe and I only pulled out as a matter of caution. I did not want to aggravate it and end up missing Boston,” Kimetto told Xinhua from Eldoret.
In his absence, training mate Wilson Kipsang, the World Marathon record holder, could only manage a third place finish in RAK Half on Valentines Day.
“I know the course in RAK half is tough. I was not ready to stress my foot for that and I will see how it works out in Boston,” added the 2:03:45 course record holder from last year.
It was the fastest marathon ever run in the United States and fourth fastest anywhere on a standard course. He ran near dead even splits of 1:01:52 and 1:01:53.
He set a course record for his first marathon victory at the 2013 Tokyo Marathon. In just his second race at the distance he used a strong second half to cross the finish in 2:06:50, eight seconds ahead of fellow Kenyan Michael Kipyego.
His debut marathon was in Berlin in 2012 clocking 2:04:16, where he was second to training partner Geoffrey Mutai.
“I want to run faster in Boston and that is why I will not disturb myself with any road race until then. I can make it in under 2:04. After that, I will return home, train and hope to emerge stronger and accomplished to conquer the Berlin Course, which will be a world record.”
“I have said as much to Wilson (Kipsang) when we train together that his world record is on borrowed time. I hope in September I will be able to set a new one,” he said.
Joining Kimetto in Boston will be Moses Mosop, who ran the second-fastest time ever run over a certified marathon distance with his 2:03:06 second-place finish in Boston in 2011.
Mosop then went on to win Chicago the same year. Other Kenyans are Eric Ndiema, Lisbon champion Paul Lonyangata, and Gongju winner Joel Kimurer.
