Tsegaye Kebede and Liliya Shobukhova will return to defend their titles at next year’s London Marathon.
Kebede returns to London 2011
Shobukhova, who led a Russian one-two in this year’s women’s race, heads a field that is being described as the best ever assembled on the streets of London.
“We certainly expect the men’s course record to be under threat,” the race director, David Bedford, said. “While the women’s race looks likely to be one of the most competitive we’ve ever had.”
Ethiopia’s Kebede will have stiff opposition from Kenya’s Olympic champion Samuel Wanjiru who beat him in Chicago in October while the world champion Abel Kirui will also line up.
Wanjiru, the London winner in 2009, was forced to drop out this year because of a knee injury.
Shobukhova will be challenged by the 2008 and 2009 London champion Irina Mikitenko of Germany as well as the world champion Bai Xue from China and Romania’s Olympic champion Constantina Dita who is back in London for a 10th time. Edna Kiplagat, the newly-crowned New York champion, will lead the Kenyan challenge in the women’s event on 17 April.
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