After an injury-ridden season, world record holder Dennis Kimetto hopes to make a comeback in Boston Marathon in April.
His manager, Gerard Van Der Veen confirmed Kimetto, who holds world record of 2:02.57, is set to compete at the April’s Boston Marathon and that they will use the outcome of the race to gauge his level of recovery.
Kimetto was scheduled to compete at the Chicago Marathon last year but pulled out at the last minute citing stress fracture on his left leg. Speaking yesterday during a meeting for the Volare Sports athletes in Eldoret, Gerard, who heads the agency, said he believes Kimetto has the capability to return to the top this season.
“I trust that Kimetto will comeback this year and I know he has prepared well,” Gerard said, adding: “Kimetto season last year was ridden with injuries and he couldn’t prepare well. However, I want to confirm that he is now okay and ready to rumble.”
After setting a new world mark in Berlin in the year 2014, Kemetto 2015 season went low, finishing third in London Marathon and dropping out of the World Championships in Beijing. In December the same year, he dropped out of the Fukuoka Marathon after covering 5km due to an injury and his attempt to comeback in 2016 season was dealt a blow after finishing ninth at the London Marathon.
“We treated him and he is the one who requested to opt of Chicago Marathon last year in order to prepare for the 2017 season. He has healed and we have confidence in him,” Biwott Tonge, an officer at the management, said. Meanwhile, athletes from Volare Sports Management have lauded Kenya’s move to fight doping, saying they are in tandem with their spirit of running clean.
The management, whose athletes include Kimetto and former world record holder, Wilson Kipsang held its meeting yesterday in Eldoret to sensitise the athletes on doping issues and media relations. World Anti-Doping Agency recently lauded Kenya for its efforts to fight the menace.
“On behalf of the management, we advocate for clean sport and we are very happy for the efforts the country in putting in place to address doping,” former said Kipsang. Apart from the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya programmes, Athletics Kenya recently established Kenya Doctors Network to guide the athletes on anti-doping matters. “We are supporting the anti-doping programmes by AK, government and Adak,” said Kipsang.