Feature: Keitany to battle Olympic champ Sumgong in London marathon

Kenya will for the umpteenth time use the London Marathon in April as its trial competition ahead of the 2017 London World Championships.

With its best athletes all angling up for the conquest of one of the biggest city marathon, Kenya is hopeful, it will get its best athlete to return to the very city for the World Marathon Championships, which will be held in August.

Kenya quest will be led by Olympic champion Jemima Sumgong, who will defend her London Marathon title on April 23 against one of the strongest women's fields ever assembled for a major city marathon.

There is also New York champion Mary Keitany, who missed out on an Olympic ticket in Rio and another reserve athlete Florence Kiplagat, the Chicago marathon champion.

Sumgong defied the odds last April when she recovered from a bruising fall to beat the world's best in the British capital with a devastating finish.

The 32-year-old went on to make history in Rio when she became the first Kenyan woman to win Olympic marathon gold. Sumgong defeated Ethiopia's world champion Mare Dibaba in Brazil to confirm her status as the world's No. 1 marathon runner of 2016.

Dibaba, who won bronze in Rio behind Bahrain's Eunice Kirwa, will be one of Sumgong's main rivals in London from a field containing four women who have broken the iconic two hours 20 minute barrier and no fewer than nine who have run quicker than 2:22.

"London is the marathon every runner wants to win. I can't wait to return to defend my title," Sumgong said.

The line-up announced on Tuesday includes all three medalists from last year's London Marathon, three of the top five finishers from the Rio Games, four previous London Marathon champions, and the winners at last year's World Marathon Majors races in Tokyo, Berlin, Chicago and New York.

The quickest on paper is Keitany, who will be aiming to become only the fourth woman to win the London Marathon three times after completing a hat-trick of New York City Marathon titles last November.

Keitany became the second fastest women marathon runner of all time when she won her second London Marathon in 2012 in 2:18:37.

But after finishing runner-up in 2015, the African record holder could only place ninth last April after she was involved in the collision that brought down Sumgong. That cost Keitany a place on Kenya's Rio team and the 35-year-old will feel she has something to prove.

"I love running in London," said Keitany. "After the sickness I had before the race and the fall last year during the race, I want to show everyone what I can do. My goal is to win the Virgin Money London Marathon for the third time and to demonstrate to everybody that I could have won the Olympic Games last year if I had been selected."

The domestic competition for Kenyan runners will be fierce as the elite line-up also includes Florence Kiplagat, the 2016 Chicago champion and half marathon world record holder who was third here last year and second in 2014; last year's Tokyo Marathon champion and 2015 world silver medallist Helah Kiprop; plus the Olympic 5,000m champion Vivian Cheruiyot who will make her marathon debut at the age of 33.

The quintet of quality Kenyans is matched by a five-strong Ethiopian contingent that is equally impressive.

Mare Dibaba, who finished sixth last year, is joined by her namesake Tirunesh Dibaba, the triple Olympic and five-time world track champion, who finished third on her marathon debut in London three years ago; the 2015 London champion Tigist Tufa, who was second here last year; three-times Berlin Marathon champion Aberu Kebede, who has also won the Frankfurt, Tokyo and Rotterdam marathons; and the 2010 London champion Aselefech Mergia, who has triumphed three times in the Dubai Marathon in recent years. Endit