Sara Hall and Sally Kipyego Lead the American Contingent at the Berlin Marathon

By Adam Kopet

Seven Americans will be on the start line Sunday for the elite races at the BMW Berlin Marathon.

Previously announced was Sara Hall, who will be racing both the Berlin and New York City Marathons this fall. Since her disappointing 15th-place finish at the Boston Marathon in the spring, Hall has finished no worse than fourth in any of her road races since then.

Of those races, Hall finished runner-up at the USATF Half Marathon and 25 km Championships on back-to-back weekends in May. She also won the USATF Women's 10 km Championships and, most recently, the USATF 20 km Championships.

Hall will be looking to improve on her 2:26:20 personal best she set at the 2018 Ottawa Marathon.

Joining Hall in the women's race are three other Americans. Among them is Sally Kipyego. She recently became eligible to compete for the United States after previously representing Kenya internationally.

Kipyego continues her return after pregnancy kept her from racing in 2017. Her marathon best came in 2016 when she finished second at the New York City Marathon.

This year, Kipyego has raced once since she dropped out of the Boston Marathon in April. She finished third at the USATF Women's 10 km Championships, running 32:35. Now she is in Berlin and appears ready to go, according to posts on social media.

Great to see @sallykipyego this morning -Ready to go for Sunday’s @berlinmarathon Good Luck from all of us @nyrr pic.twitter.com/CVAioykoJH

— NYRR Pro Wheeler (@nyrr_prowheeler) September 26, 2019

The other two American women include Adriana Nelson and Samantha Bluske. Nelson holds a personal best of 2:28:52 from the 2008 London Marathon. Bluske has run 2:31:55 at the 2017 USATF Marathon Championships.

The men's race features three Americans, led by Ryan Vail. He has been training near Prague in preparations for Berlin. Despite injuries affecting his training in recent years, Vail has a marathon best of 2:10:57 from the 2014 London Marathon.

Matt Llano returns to racing after struggling through this year's Tokyo Marathon. He had been on personal best pace at halfway, but he struggled over the final miles of the race, finishing 55th.

Rounding out the American elite contingent is Haron Lagat making his marathon debut. His last race was the Boilermaker 15K, where he finished fifth in 44:21. Lagat has a 1:01:01 half marathon personal best from the 2018 Houston Half Marathon.