19 April 2007 - London, UK - The two biggest names in world distance running are primed and ready for a true battle royal around the streets of London on Sunday (22). But both they and the organisers of the Flora London Marathon will have their fingers crossed that Paul Tergat and Haile Gebrselassie will get to the start line on Blackheath in one piece and in top form.

"Last year was dreadful," Gebrselassie admitted yesterday, thinking back ruefully to a performance which saw "the wheels fall off" just after 22 miles when the two-time Olympic and four-time World 10,000m champion and multiple World record holder on the track ended up finishing an exhausted ninth in "just" 2hrs 9min, the slowest of his five-race marathon career.

I’m healthy and in good shape

Tergat, the World marathon record holder, did not even get that far in 2006, withdrawing in the week before the race with injury.

"I am very excited that this time round I will be able to make the start line, unlike last year," Tergat, who will be 38 later this year, said today.

Despite his five IAAF World Cross Country titles, his 2:04:55 marathon world record and all those Olympic and World silver medals from his track duels with Gebrselassie, Tergat has never managed to win the London Marathon, with two second places from four attempts. It is a blemish on his personal CV which he believes will be rectified on Sunday.

"I am always excited when I come to London," he said. "I ran 2:05 here and was still unable to win – so I really want to win this time. I’m healthy and in good shape.

“To win this event is one of the dreams of all top athletes.”

Certainly, the form of Tergat's training partners, Joshua Chelang'a, the Rotterdam Marathon winner, and Robert Cheruiyot, who on Monday won the Boston Marathon for a third time, has been impressive.

Kenyans Evans Rutto, Martin Lel and Felix Limo have successively led world record-sized fields the 26 miles 385 yards from Blackheath to The Mall for the past three years. And Lel and Limo are among the 40,000-or-so runners taking on Tergat this year.

Following the outcome of the IAAF World Cross in Mombassa last month, a victory on Sunday by Tergat - who is still regarded with undisguised admiration by his countrymen - would provide a fitting affirmation that Kenya is back on top of world distance running.

“My intensive training started in January and I have been training twice a day with a big group. You will have seen that people from my group won in Boston and Rotterdam – these are my training colleagues so I know that I am in good shape,” said Tergat.

“But anything can happen in a marathon. Look at New York last year, or at Haile here last year. The first thing is to cross the line, and hopefully not fall down.”

Last year was dreadful

Tergat’s Ethiopian rival probably would have preferred not to have been reminded of his 2006 London run.

“Oh, why do you need to talk about last year?” Gebrselassie laughed today.

“I sat here last year and told you I was in very good condition – really my preparation was perfect. But you have to have the right day in the marathon. Sunday looks like it could be my day, but it also looks like Paul’s day, too.

“Last year was dreadful. This year, I am sure will be very good. I have to be optimistic. I have to prepare well, do the right training. Now I am just waiting to see.”

Gebrselassie also paid tribute to Tergat for the role that the Kenyan played in their near-decade long rivalry on the track, culminating with possibly the greatest ever Olympic 10,000m final in Sydney in 2000, when the Ethiopian won by just 0.09sec.

“It was because of Paul and the other Kenyans that I could break many records,” Gebrselassie said. “Without them I couldn’t have done it. It is a wonderful thing – it’s what keeps you hungry."

“I look at Paul, and I say I want to attack the World record. But I know if I do it he will be back next year to try again.”

With conditions on Sunday expected to be good, if unseasonably warm, Tergat seemed to have winning as his priority. “Of course it’s good that the record is there as a target for people to achieve, but as athletes we still need to win the race,” said Tergat, who in 25 races against Gebrselassie, has beaten him just three times, including their only previous marathon meeting.

That was in London five years ago when the Ethiopian made his debut at the distance, yet both he an Tergat were beaten by Khalid Khannouchi - though the American needed to break the then World best to do so.

The lure of Olympic gold

Khannouchi, another who returns to London for Sunday’s race, still holds the course record, at 2:05:38. Also likely to be a familiar face among the race leaders will be Stefano Baldini, Italy’s Olympic gold medallist, who will be racing London for the eighth time, chasing after a share of one of the richest prize purses on the international road circuit, where the men’s winner, with time bonuses, might be expected to pocket a cheque for $105,000. A World record would yield a further $125,000.

But like Tergat, Gebrselassie has his eye on something far more valuable - another Olympic gold. “Of course Beijing is everybody’s dream,” he said. “All athletes dream of an Olympic Games.”

Steven Downes for the IAAF