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Gabius back at his record distance

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Arne Gabius will this weekend look to take another giant step in a marathon career where he has run straight into the record books.

Gabius, 35, will make his London debut on the streets of the capital on Sunday morning in only his third race over the 26.2-miles distance.

But he finds himself high up among the elite, the fastest German man for over a decade and determined to build towards making an impression at this summer’s Olympic Games.

'My recent workouts have shown me that I am in good shape,' he said.

His first marathon in Frankfurt in 2014 brought an impressive start, with a time of 2:09:32 when he was ninth, before returning to the course last October where he ran 2:08:33, a German record, to finish fourth.

It was some performance as along the way he also broke national road record times for 30km (1:30:35), 35km (1:46:09), and 40km (2:01:52) and will mix it with the world’s greatest.

Kenyans are led by world record-holder Dennis Kimetto (2:02:57) and defending champion Eliud Kipchoge (2:04:00) while Kenenisa Bekele (2:05:04) is part of a strong Ethiopian squad.

Ukraine’s nine-times SPAR European Cross Country champion Serhiy Lebid is Europe’s fastest man in the field, having run a second quicker than Gabius, and the German cannot wait.

'My endurance values ​​are now better than before Frankfurt. But the speed is perhaps not quite as good,' he added, speaking to leichtathletik.de.

'I am mentally freer than before Frankfurt, because at the time the charge was due to the hunt for the German record. To that extent I am looking forward to the London Marathon, especially since I know that I am well prepared.

'The best would be a pace of 64:00 minutes for the first half, but 63:30 would also be okay.'

He was 35 exactly a month ago in a career where, in Helsinki 2012, he won silver in the 5000m behind Mo Farah at the European Athletics Championships.

Farah remains a track runner, but his British teammate Scott Overall is determined to book his spot in Rio on Sunday after a disappointing time at the Olympics in London 2012.

He was only 61st in the marathon then but hopes to qualify again from these domestic trials taking place within the main race.

Overall’s 2:11:24 in Berlin was inside the Olympic qualifying time of 2:14:00 and he just needs to be the first or second Briton home to make it. But as he said: 'I want to make Rio and produce a championship performance that’s worthy of my talent. I would like to run well at Rio and forget about London 2012.'

Portugal’s Jessica Augusto (2:24:25) and Belarusian Volha Mazuronak (2:25:36) are the fastest European women in a field where Kenya’s Mary Keitany (2:18:37) is chasing a third London win as Ethiopian Tigist Tufa (2:21:52) bids to successfully defend her title.




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