NAIROBI, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Gilbert Kirwa is hopeful he has overcome his niggling injuries and has set his focus on setting a new course record at the Hannover Marathon in Germany on Sunday.
The fastest runner in the field at 2:06:14, Kirwa hopes to finally put recent injury problems behind him and produce a convincing performance on the flat course by attacking the course record.
"I was able to train very well in the past three months, so I am looking forward to the race on Sunday and hope to go for the course record," said Kirwa, who has had some success in German-speaking regions in the past.
Back in 2009 he first took the Vienna City Marathon and then went on to win in Frankfurt, where he produced his personal best of 2:06:14.
Three other runners besides Kirwa have sub-2:08 bests: Poland's Henryk Szost with 2:07:39 and Kenyans Cheshari Jacob and Duncan Koech with 2:07:46 and 2:07:53 respectively.
The quartet intends to run the first half in 1:04 which would be on pace to threaten the 2:08:32 course record set by South Africa's Lusapho April five years ago.
The women's race has shaped into a battle between Germany's Fate Tola and Kenya's Agnes Kiprop. With a personal best of 2:23:54 Kiprop is the fastest of the pair.
Germany's Fate Tola is confident of defending her title in the Hannover Marathon despite picking up a cold ahead of the race.
"My training went very well in the past weeks. I have a slight cold but I am still confident. If all goes well and it does not get too warm in the final part of the race then I will try to go for the course record," said Tola on Saturday.
"On Sunday I plan to run the first half in 1:13 and then go for the course record," Kiprop said. Ukraine's Olena Burkovska has held the course record of 2:27:07 since 2013.
For Tola it is mainly about victory. But there is an additional motivation for her since she switched clubs at the beginning of the year and now competes for Hannover Athletics. As a local she will surely receive additional support on Sunday.
