Lornah Kiplagat of the Netherlands celebrates her gold medal (© Getty Images)
Lornah Kiplagat, the reigning twotime World Road Running champion, has set her sights on one of the world's richest races following her confirmation that she will take part in the 2008 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon on 18 January.
She is the second notable star to sign up with World marathon record holder Haile Gebrselassie already confirmed for the men’s race.
Last month Kiplagat, the Kenyan-born star who has been a Dutch citizen since 2003, broke the World records for both the 20km and Half Marathon with a stunning performance at the 2nd IAAF World Road Running Championships in Udine, Italy. Competing for only the second time since picking up the calf injury which prevented her from competing in Osaka this summer, the 33-year-old defending champion shattered her own 20km record by 24 seconds with a time of 1:02:57, before storming through the last kilometre to claim gold and a new Half Marathon World record in a time of 1:06:25.
Kiplagat’s performance sliced a huge 19 seconds from the previous World record of 1:06:44 which South Africa's Elana Meyer set eight years ago with victory in Tokyo.
Held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai, and staged under the aegis of the Dubai Sports Council, the 2008 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon offers a potential US$2,000,000 prize-fund provided courtesy of Dubai Holding.
Victah Sailer for the IAAF
