Kenya's Keitany eyes gold at Beijing athletic worlds

London marathon champion Mary Keitany of Kenya will compete in one race in the Czech Republic in June before focusing on her quest to win the gold at the Beijing athletic worlds in August.

Keitany, 33, is yet to fully launch her training, as she is still recovering from the rigour of running the London Marathon in April, where she emerged second.

"My training is just getting started. It will be a while before I hit my form and it will be in Prague City that I will be going for a shorter race," she said Tuesday from Eldoret.

Kenya is yet to announce its marathon team to the World Championships in August, but Keitany is keen to compete in Beijing.

"I have instructed my management to talk with Athletics Kenya (AK), knowing that I'm available for selection. But It is not entirely up to me to decide and when given the chance, I will like to atone my poor finishing at the London Olympics (she was fourth) and win gold in Beijing," she added.

But that will wait, as Keitany plans to compete at the sixth Mattoni Olomouc Half Marathon on June 20, where she will team up with former marathon world record holder Wilson Kipsang.

Kipsang will be joined in the men's race by his training partner and Geoffrey Ronoh.

In this race last year, Ronoh propelled himself onto the international scene by taking the win in a course record of 60:17 and taking the scalp of Kipsang.

The women' s race will welcome Keitany for her Czech debut. The course record of 68:53 could be in danger considering she ran 66:02 earlier this year.

"I will not talk about records now because I'm just getting started on my training programme after a month's rest. But if my body feels fine, I will go for it," she said. Endite