NAIROBI, Oct.5 -- Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge will use 41 pacesetters in his bid to write new history and become the first man to run the 42.195km race in less than two hours on Oct.12 in Vienna, Austria.
Kipchoge will use pacesetters from all continents as they stand out to prove that man has no limit.
Organizers of the race have released the final batch of pacemakers for the race dubbed the INEOS 1:59 Challenge. The race is expected to be held on Oct.12 should the weather condition be favorite, however, they have a window of seven days to decide the best day with less wind and rain to complete their task until Oct 20.
"There are no limits, nothing is impossible," said Kipchoge on Saturday from Eldoret. "There is no better feeling knowing that you can write a new history."
Among the 14 new additions to the list of pacesetters to push Kipchoge to the new height include new world 5000m silver medalist Selemon Barega of Ethiopia. The group has a task to enable Kipchoge try to break two hours for the marathon later this month.
Others are Ronald Musagala and Matt Centrowitz, who have been competing over 1500m in Doha's World Championships, who join the other additions, Hillary Bor (United States), Justus Kimutai (Kenya), Jacob Kiplimo (Uganda), Alex Korio, Jonathan Korir, Ronald Kwemoi, Lopez Lomong (United States), Stewart McSweyn (Australia), Kota Murayama (Japan), Nicholas Rotich and Patrick Tiernan (Australia).
A total of 41 pacemakers will be used in the attempt in Vienna on October.12 - or, if the weather necessitates, on the revised date up to 20 October.
This brings the total of pacemakers for the INEOS 1:59 Challenge to 41. Other athletes currently competing at the World Championships who will be part of the pacemaking team include all three of Norway's Ingebrigtsen brothers - Henrik, Filip, and Jakob - Paul Chelimo (United States) and Julien Wanders (Switerland).
Kipchoge opted not to defend his title at the Berlin marathon last month to focus on running the INES 1:59 Challenge. This left Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele runs and almost breaks his world record in the German Capital felling short of the record (2:01.39) by just two seconds to clock 2:01.41.
Kipchoge is expected to compete in London in April next year before heading to Tokyo to defend his Olympic title in August.