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Kenya's Kirui eyes Boston marathon as launch pad for Beijing World Championship

Xinhua, January 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

Two-time world marathon champion Abel Kirui is keen to compete at the Beijing World Championships in August.

However, his selection is dependent on his performance at the Boston marathon in April. The Olympic marathon silver medallist will not be giving up on his quest to make history as a three-time world champion.

"It is not easy to make the Kenyan team, especially now that younger athletes are emerging. But I still have something to offer Kenyan team and I hope, I will be able to prove it in Boston," said Kirui.

The 32-year-old won in 2009 with a time of 2:06:54, then defended his title with a winning margin of two minutes and 28 seconds - the largest ever margin at the World Championship event. He won a silver medal in the 2012 Olympic marathon.

He has also won the Vienna Marathon and was runner-up at the 2007 Berlin Marathon.

But that will not matter when he runs in Boston where he will come up against Boston champions Meb Keflezighi, Lelisa Desisa, Wesley Korir and former world marathon champion Patrick Makau.

Winners in Boston will join the chase for the lucrative World Marathon Majors.

The chase for the 2015 men's title will be aggressive, with seven men in the field holding personal-best marathon times under 2:05:30 and ten men with times under 2:06:30.

Former world marathon record-holder and two-time Berlin Marathon champion Patrick Makau leads the group. Makau recently won the challenging 2014 Fukuoka Marathon and is also a past winner of marathons in Frankfurt and Rotterdam.

Lelisa Desisa, the 2013 Boston Marathon champion and 2013 World Championships Marathon silver medalist, will challenge for the win as will Abel Kirui, the two-time World Championships Marathon gold medallist. Endi