By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Ethiopian Tamirat Tola will defend his title at the New York City Marathon weeks after picking up gold in Paris, hoping to become only the second athlete to win the Olympic title and the five-borough major in the same year.
Tola set a new course record in New York last year and said he was taking inspiration this time around from Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir, who broke the tape in Manhattan after winning in Tokyo three years ago.
“I did actually speak with Peres when we ran together in London. She said to me that just as she won the Olympics and New York, that she believes that I can do the same thing as well,” Tola said via an interpreter.
Tola broke the Olympic record when he tamed the challenging Paris course earlier this month, an astonishing performance after he was initially not even included on the team.
The hilly New York course suits him perfectly, he told reporters, and the 2022 world champion has few concerns adding the challenging race to his agenda so close after the Games.
“I’ve been recovering well, and I’ve begun training a little bit. I trust the training that the coach gives me. New York is a course that I like,” he said.
Tola is not the only Paris medallist taking on the year’s final major, as Kenyan bronze winner Hellen Obiri will defend her title on the women’s side.
The pair were part of a handful of top contenders that organisers New York Road Runners announced on Tuesday.
A talented Kenyan cohort highlights the men’s race, with 2022 winner Evans Chebet, 2021 champion Albert Korir and Geoffrey Kamworor, who reached the top of the podium in 2019 and 2017, all expected.
Their compatriot Sharon Lokedi, the 2022 winner, will be on the starting line for the women’s race.
Dakotah Lindwurm, the top American woman in Paris with a 12th-place finish, is among the brightest home hopes along with Clayton Young, who finished ninth on the men’s side.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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