Kenya’s women representatives at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in marathon Hellen Obiri and Sharon Lokedi are set to face top-tier opposition.

Lokedi, a New York Marathon champion, and Obiri, a twice world 5000m champion and twice Olympic 5000m silver medallist, are set to carry the Kenyan flag with expectations of gold medals hanging heavily on their shoulders.

Obiri won the Boston Marathon on her debut at the distance after clocking 2:21:38, adding the New York title before returning to Boston this year to retain her title in 2:22:37.

Ethiopia presents the toughest opposition for Kenya, as it has Tigist Assefa, who emerged as a major candidate for Olympic gold in Paris when she set a world record of 2:11:53 at last year’s Berlin Marathon. She trimmed more than two minutes from the time Brigid Kosgei had set at the 2019 Chicago Marathon.

This was Assefa’s third marathon since she had initially ventured into other disciplines, including the 800m race.

Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan, who is the current Olympic 5000m and 10,000m champion and also won the 2023 London Marathon on her debut at the distance and then produced the second-best time ever in winning the Chicago Marathon in October in 2:13:44, is also a strong candidate.

Peres Jepchirchir, an Olympic champion, won in a women ‘s-only world record of 2:16:16 in this year’s London Marathon. Assefa finished second in 2:16:23, one place ahead of Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei, with Ethiopian Megertu Alemu finishing third.
In March 2024, Hassan finished fourth in the Tokyo Marathon, clocking 2:18:05. It remains to be seen what impact, if any, this result will have on her eventual competition choices for Paris, where she is considering taking part in a range of events from 1500m to the marathon.

“I still have three weeks to have good training, and then I will decide which distances I will run in Paris. At this moment I don’t have a goal for Paris, but for now I want to be the best in all distances, and then I will decide,” Hassan said, as quoted by World Athletics.

Bahrain’s 2017 world champion Rose Chelimo and Eunice Chumba, as well as the USA’s Fiona O’Keeffe, Japan’s Asian record-holder Honami Maeda, Morocco’s world bronze medallist Fatima Gardadi, and Tanzania’s Magdalena Shauri, are other stars who could challenge the Kenyan unit strongly.

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