Paris Olympics: Kipchoge’s form may let him down in his quest to win the third Olympic marathon gold medal.

Athletics icon Eliud Kipchoge will be in Paris at the age of 37 seeking to earn a third consecutive Olympic title, but his performance in the Tokyo Marathon on 3 March was far from the ideal preparation.

After finishing 10th, the worst result of a peerless marathon career that began in 2013, he commented: “I didn't sleep for three days and I've never been so bad.”

He finished in 2:06:50, more than four minutes behind the winner, fellow Kenyan Benson Kipruto, who clocked 2:02:16, the fastest time recorded this year.

That performance has elevated Kipruto, 33, into one of the favourites in Paris. His compatriot Timothy Kiplagat finished 39 seconds behind him in the second-fastest time of the season but did not make the Olympic team.

Nobody will be writing off Kipchoge’s prospects in Paris, however, given his extraordinary record on the roads, where he has run four of the 10 fastest times recorded.

But all the expectations of success for Kenya are edged with sadness and the thought of what might have been had their new world record-holder Kelvin Kiptum not died in a car crash in February, five days after his Chicago Marathon time of 2:00:35 – bettering Kipchoge’s mark of 2:01:09 at the 2022 Berlin Marathon – had been ratified by World Athletics.

Until that awful event, the athletics world had been speculating on what might unfold on the streets of the French capital when the two men met in competition for the first time.

Kipchoge will, however, resume a longstanding rivalry with another legend of the sport, Ethiopia’s 41-year-old Kenenisa Bekele.

The latter, who won three Olympic and five world golds over 5000m and 10,000m before turning to the marathon, last competed at the Games in 2012, when he was fourth in the 10,000m in London.

 After failing to make the Olympic team in 2016 and 2021, he earned his place in Paris with an astonishing performance at the London Marathon in April, where he finished second in 2:04:15, 14 seconds behind Kenya’s Alexander Mutiso Munyao, who is the third selected member of the Kenyan team.

Coincidentally, Bekele and Kipchoge’s rivalry started in Paris, where the latter won the 5000m title from Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj, who would win 1500m and 5000m gold at the following year’s Olympics in Athens, with Kipchoge taking bronze.

The last time the two men raced together was at the London Marathon in 2018 when Kipchoge won.

Deresa Geleta won this year’s Seville Marathon in a course record time of 2:03:27, setting his personal best and becoming the 20th fastest marathon runner in history.

Sisay Lemma produced a dominant performance at the Boston Marathon on 15 April, finishing 41 seconds clear in 2:06:17, the fourth fastest in the race’s history.

“I previously didn’t finish in this race, so I wanted redemption for that, that’s why I came,” said Lemma, who last year moved to fourth on the world all-time list with his 2:01:48 victory in Valencia. “Thankfully I was able to redeem myself, so I’m happy. I planned to break the course record, but the hills at the end made me tired.

“The reason I raced in Boston is because the course is similar to the Olympic one, so hopefully this will be good preparation for the Paris Games.”

The last Ethiopian to win the men’s Olympic marathon title was Gezahegne Abera at the 2004 Athens Games.

Meanwhile, the men who followed Kipchoge home at the Tokyo Olympics are contesting places on the podium once again – silver medallist Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands, ninth on this year’s world list after winning the Rotterdam Marathon in 2:04:45, and bronze medallist Bashir Abdi of Belgium.

Uganda’s team includes world champion Victor Kiplangat. A 2:05:09 performer at his best, Kiplangat has a season’s best of 2:07:44.

Others to watch out for include the Eritrean trio of Samson Amare, Berhane Tesfay, and Henok Tesfay, Italy’s European half marathon champion, and 2022 10,000m champion Yemaneberhan Crippa and Britain’s Emile Cairess.