Tirunesh Dibaba had to drop out of the London Marathon but is now ready to defend her title in Manchester

The Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run this weekend has a top-class women’s elite field.  Ethiopian superstar Tirunesh Dibaba (pictured) returns to an event she has won no fewer than four times and to the course upon which she was impressively dominant last year. The triple Olympic champion will be in action for the first time since being forced to stop 30km into last month’s London Marathon, however, and will Face fierce opposition. Her toughest opponent will come in the form of Kenyan multiple world record-holder Joyciline Jepkosgei, the only woman ever to run 10km in under 30 minutes. The 24-year-old initially broke the world record for the distance, as well as the marks for 15km and 20km on her way to also smashing the half-marathon world record in Prague in April last year. She clocked 30:04 for 10km on that occasion but returned to the Czech capital in September and lowered it further when she ran 29:43 at the Prague Grand Prix. Jepkosgei also improved on her half-marathon mark by a second when she ran 64:51 in Valencia last October.

posted Friday May 18th
by Euan Crumley/ Athletics Weekly