NAIROBI, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Wuhan marathon champion Andrew Ben Kimutai said he is in top form, but will not drop his guard, despite having the fastest time in the elite list of marathoners in Venice on Sunday.
Kimutai, who missed out on the Kenyan World Championships team, is the fastest runner in the men's field in the Huawei Venice Marathon, an IAAF Bronze Label road race.
"The marathon is won in the mind and despite the challenges from a strong field, I am positive I can emerge strong and clinch the title. It is important for me to win my second race this year," said Kimutai on Saturday.
The 30-year-old will be making his second appearance this year after displaying a dominant performance in China in April when he won the Wuhan Marathon clocking an impressively fast time of 2:10:06.
"I want to improve on my personal best time of 2:08:32 from Seville last year. If I can run under two hours and eight minutes, then it will be hard to catch up with me," he added.
Kimutai will take on compatriot Geoffrey Yegon, who finished second at the Rome Ostia Half Marathon in 1:00:23 and has four sub-one-hour half marathon runs on his record. He clocked 59:56 at the Prague Half Marathon in 2018 and has a career-best of 59:44 from 2016.
The men's line-up also features Moses Mengich of Kenya, who was second at the Treviso Marathon in 2019 and Ethiopians Asefa Habtamu (2:08:32 in Dubai 2013) and Tsegaye Hiluf (2:12:30 in Barcelona 2018).
The top Italian runner is Ahmed Nasef, who won the national marathon titles in 2016 and 2017.
The favorite in the women's race is Kenya's Cynthia Cherop, who clocked 2:25:55 on a slightly downhill course at the Los Angeles marathon in March and finished runner-up at the Gothenburg Half Marathon setting her best time of 1:08:26 in May.
She'll face compatriots Judith Korir, winner at the Belgrade Marathon this year, and Jackline Autonyang, who will make her debut over the distance.
More than 13,000 runners are expected to take part in the Venice Marathon and the popular 10km mass race.
