Kenya's Yego eyes to reclaim title, revenge in Athens Marathon

Kenya's Hillary Yego faces his biggest test ever as he seeks to reclaim his Athens Marathon title against a spirited challenge from his compatriots on Nov. 13.

Yego, 29, will be returning to the Greek City after missing out last year because of economic sanctions against Greece, but his main challengers will be people he has trained with before, compatriots Augustine Rono and Luka Rotich.

"In this caliber of event, it is not about who will be next to you because everybody is a top athlete and all that you can do is have your strategy right. Believe in your inner strength to carry you over to the finish line," Yego said on Tuesday in Nairobi.

Yego surprised everyone three years ago with his victory in the Athens Marathon. The Kenyan ran 2:13:51. Now Yego is returning to the same course tagged as favourite for the title on Sunday.

His compatriots Rono (2:07:23) and Rotich (2:08:12) will however try everything in the book to deny him the success.

Top names in the women's race include Brighton Marathon winner Peninah Wanjiru and Gladys Kwambai.

Three years ago, few considered Yego to be one of the favourites in Athens. Now 29, he showed then what he could do on the undulating course and left the bigger names trailing in his wake.

The victory in Athens remains the biggest of his career so far. He returned in 2014 as the reigning champion but dropped out. In the same race, the winner Felix Kandie of Kenya set the course record with 2:10:37, improving by 18 seconds the time of no less than Stefano Baldini when the Italian won the Olympic title in 2004.

Rivals Rono and Rotich also are tough runners and in comparison with Yego, both have faster personal bests of under 2:10, but it remains to be seen how they deal with the demanding course. Rono ran 2:07:23 in Hamburg in 2012 and Rotich ran 2:08:12 in Ottawa in 2013.

Kenya looks like dominating the women's elite field as well. The 32-year-old Wanjiru made a successful trip to the English south coast town of Brighton in 2015 to win in 2:34:25.

Last December she achieved another victory, this time in Spain, winning the Malaga title in 2:37:46. Also coming into contention should be her compatriot Kwambai. The 33-year-old has a best of 2:36:14 in finishing seventh in Warsaw in 2015.

A runner who might cause a surprise is Nancy Arusei. The Kenyan won the Remich Half Maraton in Luxembourg with a personal best of 72:31 in September and will be making her debut at the distance in Athens on Sunday, with a record 50,000 runners, taking into account those taking part in events. Endit