Olympic bronze medallist Bashir Abdi plans to attack the European record while Marius Kipserem will be on the hunt for a hat-trick when the 40th NN Marathon Rotterdam, a World Athletics Elite Label road race, takes place on Sunday (24).
Kenya’s Kipserem broke the course record with 2:04:11 to win in 2019 and he leads the entries, but Belgium’s Abdi, who ran 2:04:49 in Tokyo last year, will be looking to challenge him as he attempts to beat the 2:04:16 run by Kaan Kigen Ozbilen in 2019.
“Rotterdam is the city of the marathon for me,” said Abdi. “If I have any chance of beating the European record anywhere, then it is here, but I will have to do my very best for it.”
Ethiopia’s Solomon Deksisa also has a sub-2:05 PB, having clocked 2:04:40 in Amsterdam in 2018, and they will be joined in Rotterdam by athletes including Emmanuel Saina and Gideon Kipketer of Kenya, who have respective PBs of 2:05:02 and 2:05:51, plus sub-2:07 runners Dawit Wolde, Kebede Wami Tulu and Limenih Getachew Yizengaw of Ethiopia.
Kenya’s Bornes Kitur, who ran her best of 2:21:26 in Ljubljana in 2019, and her compatriot Stella Barsosio feature in the women’s race, with Barsosio looking to go one better than her second place finish in 2019, when she ran her PB of 2:23:36.
They will line up alongside athletes including Ukraine’s Nataliya Lehonkova, Norway’s Runa Skrove Falch and Sweden’s Louise Wiker.
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