Wilson Kipsang Will Return to Berlin to Face Eliud Kipchoge

By Adam Kopet, DyeStat Editor

The BMW Berlin Marathon organizers announced Thursday that former world record holder Wilson Kipsang will run this year's event.

The 35-year-old Kenyan has run under 2:04:00 four times, including twice at the Berlin Marathon. Kipsang set the world record in Berlin in 2013, running 2:03:23. Three athletes have now run faster.

One of those three athletes, Eliud Kipchoge, is also slated to race in Berlin. The pair have faced off three times before, with Kipchoge holding a 2-1 edge.

Kipsang led for much of the second half of the 2016 Berlin Marathon, but he was unable to hold off the finishing speed of Kenenisa Bekele. Bekele won in 2:03:03, six seconds off Dennis Kimetto's world record, with Kipsang finishing second in 2:03:13.

The BMW Berlin Marathon is scheduled for Sept. 24. It is an Abbott World Marathon Majors event and an IAAF Gold Label Road Race.