Mumbai, Jan 19 (IANS): Defending champions Hayle Lemi Berhanu and Anchialem Haymanot will face a tough challenge from their country-mates Kinde Atanaw and Sofia Assefa in the 19th edition of Mumbai Marathon, a World Athletics Gold Label Road Race, to be held on Sunday.
Atanaw (30), is leading the men’s field with the fastest personal best time of 2:03:51 clocked four years ago in Valencia. The Ethiopian runner, who finished third in the Bengaluru World 10K in 2014, is returning to run in India after nearly a decade. He was not successful in his post-Covid outings in the last few years. He could not finish the London Marathon last year after finishing fourth in 2022. “I wanted to make a difference this time and looking for a big and memorable win here” he revealed.
Defending champion Lemi (29), however expressed he is confident of retaining the title as he showed a tremendous form while finishing fifth with a notable time of 2:05:48 in Amsterdam about three months ago. Lemi, however, possesses the knowledge to act according to the situation as he is backed with much marathon experience among all competitors who entered here for this year’s race.
The 2019 World Champion Lelisa Desisa also showed more enthusiasm and optimism about his chances to win the men’s title on Sunday.
Sofia Assefa (36), the former World and Olympic medalist in steeplechase, had run her first marathon three months ago in Amsterdam. Her teammate and defending women’s champion Anchialem Haymanot finished sixth in Amsterdam with a personal best 2:22:23, after winning her marathon debut in Mumbai last year (2:24:15). Assefa, who finished eighth in that race, clocked 2:23:33 on debut which is better than that of Haymanot.
Tadelech Bekele (32), credited with the fastest time of 2:21:40 that fetched her a bronze position in London in 2018 is returning to competition after a four-year break for a familiar purpose.
Earlier, Meb Keflezighi, an Olympic medalist and winner of New York and Boston marathons shared his experience with the running community. “In training, you need to give your 90% on fitness and 10% on mental preparations, while in the competition it will be the opposite as the mind is expected to give you the required strength to win a race”, he expressed.