Paris 2024 Olympics: Kipchoge and Kiptum tipped for Kenya in the marathon

Two-time Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge and world record holder Kelvin Kiptum are part of Kenya's pre-selection for the Paris Olympics announced on Monday.

Reigning Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir and former world record holder Brigid Kosgei are also part of the team unveiled by the Athletics Kenya Federation (AK).

Kipchoge won the men's Olympic title twice in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and then in Tokyo in 2021 and will become the first athlete to achieve an unprecedented hat-trick if he wins next summer in Paris.

His rival Kiptum, winner of the London and Chicago Marathon, bettered Kipchoge's old mark with a time of 2:00:35 on October 8 in the American city.

The two men have never faced each other in competition.

The director of competitions of the Kenyan Federation, Paul Mutwii, clarified that these lists revealed on Monday, each composed of ten athletes, were provisional and would be reduced in January to five male and five female runners.

“The selection of the team is based on world rankings and the performances achieved by the athletes in the major marathons run this year,” Mutwii said in an Athletics Kenya press release.

“We also took into account the consistency, the fight against doping, the discipline, the will, the mentality, and the attitude of the athletes,” he said.