Eliud Kipchoge targets NN Mission Marathon Hamburg for final pre-Olympic outing

We are delighted to announce that NN Running Team marathon superstar Eliud Kipchoge will compete at the NN Mission Marathon in Hamburg on April 11.

The one-off marathon organised jointly by Global Sports Communication, the NN Running Team and the Hamburg Marathon will represent the world marathon record-holder’s final outing over the classic 42.2km distance before the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics – where he will seek to become the third man in history to claim back-to-back Olympic titles.

In 2019, Eliud Kipchoge became the first athlete in history to run a sub-two-hour marathon at the INEOS 1:59 Challenge. On 12 October 2019 in Vienna, the Kenyan made history by running a full marathon in an incredible 1 hour, 59 minutes and 40 seconds.

Eliud has won a remarkable 11 out of 13 career marathons and besides his gold medal at the Rio Olympics, other highlights include an unprecedented four London Marathon victories, three Berlin Marathon wins and a Chicago Marathon title.

Kipchoge re-started gym work back in December and started full training from his camp in Kaptagat in January. Eliud has enjoyed a typically smooth preparation so far.

The Kenyan, who started his marathon career in 2013 with victory in the Hamburg Marathon, is delighted to return to compete in the northern German city: “In Hamburg, I am going back to the genesis of my marathon career. I hope to inspire many people around the world by running a beautiful race in the streets of this beautiful city.”

The one-off marathon has been organised to serve up an opportunity for athletes to run a fast race and in many cases to help secure a qualification mark for the rescheduled Tokyo Olympic Games.

In these challenging times and with the road race calendar for the first half of 2021 decimated by the pandemic, the involved parties were keen to arrange the race to provide a much-needed competitive opportunity for the athletes.

Under the tagline ‘The fastest way to Tokyo’ it is hoped the race, which will take place around a looped 10.5km city centre route, will attract around 100 invited elite athletes.

Check out more information about the NN Mission Marathon Hamburg.