August 20, (THEWILL) – Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia will defend his New York City Marathon, title just weeks after winning gold in Paris, hoping to become only the second athlete to triumph at the Olympics and one of the five-borough majors in the same year.
Tola set a new course record in New York last year and said he was taking inspiration from Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir, who broke the tape in Manhattan after winning in Tokyo three years ago.
“I did actually speak with Peres when we ran together in London. She said to me that just as she won the Olympics and New York, that she believes that I can do the same thing as well”, Tola said through an interpreter.
Tola broke the Olympic record when he tamed the challenging Paris course earlier this month, an astonishing performance after he was initially not even included on the team. The hilly New York course suits him perfectly, he told reporters and the 2022 world champion, has few concerns adding the challenging race to his agenda so close after the Games.
“I’ve been recovering well, and I’ve begun training a little bit. I trust the training that the coach gives me. New York is a course that I like”, he said. Tola is not the only Paris medallist taking on the year’s final major, as Kenyan bronze winner Hellen Obiri will defend her title on the women’s side.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
